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X^i 


^tkeKoW 


. 


COUSIN    LUCY 


ATS 


AUTIIOE    OF    THE    ROLLO    BOOKS. 


A   KETV"  EDITION, 
REVISED   BY   THE    AUTHOR. 


NEW   YORK: 
CLARK..    AUSTIN    &   SMITH, 

3    VAHK    ROW    AND    3    ANN-STKEET, 

1854. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1841, 

liir  T.  11.  OARTEH, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


PREFACE. 


t 


Two  volumes  of  a  series  of  little 
books,  corresponding,  in  their  general 
style  and  characteristics,  with  the  Rollo 
Books  for  boys,  but  designed  more  par- 
ticularly for  the  other  sex,  have  already 
been  published,  under  the  names  of 
Cousin  Lucy's  Conversations,  and 
Cousin  Lucy's  Stories.  This,  and  its 
companion,  Cousin  Lucy  at  Play,  are 
now  offered  to  the  public,  in  the  hope 
that  the  little  readers,  into  whose  hands 
they  may  fall,  may  be  interested,  and,  in 
p>    some   degree    at   least,  profited,  by   the 


perusal   of  them. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I.                           fa8e< 
The  jNev.   olate, „ 9 


CHAPTER   II. 
A  Wagon  Ride, 23 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Magazine, 37 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Where  is  Royal? 43 

CHAPTER   V. 
Accounts, 63 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Mary  Jay, 72 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Recess, • 85 


8  CONTEXTS. 


CHAPTER    VIII.  page 

Mart  Jay's  Instructions,. 95 


CHAPTER  IX 
Just  saved, 108 

CHAPTER  X. 
Diver, 119 

CHAPTER   XI. 
A  Conversation, 136 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Interruption, 146 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Thi  Theory  of  Interruption, 160 


LUCY'S    STUDIES 


CHAPTER    I, 


THE  NEW  SLATE. 


One  day,  when  Lucy  was  about  five  years  old, 
her  mother  came  home  from  the  city.  Lucy's 
brother  Royal  had  been  to  the  city  with  his 
mother  ;  but  Lucy  had  remained  at  home.  Roy- 
al went  to  drive  the  chaise  in  which  his  mother 
rode. 

When  Lucy's  mother  had  got  out  of  the  chaise, 
Royal  handed  her  some  parcels,  which  were  in 
the  back  part  of  the  seat.  There  was  one  thin, 
flat  parcel,  which  was  partly  behind  the  cushion. 
Royal  held  this  up  to  Lucy,  saying, — 

"  Lucy  !  Lucy  !  —  something  for  you." 

Lucy  took  it,  and  ran  into  the  house.  She 
asked  her  mother  if  she  might  open  it. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  mother,  "  but  be  careful." 


10  lucy's  studies. 

So  Lucy  ran  to  the  sofa,  and  sat  down  to  open 
her  parcel.     Royal  came  up  to  her,  and  said,  — 

"  Let  me  open  it  for  you,  Lucy.  /  know  how 
to  open  it." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  want  to  open  it  myself." 

"  You  can't  open  it,"  said  Royal ;  and,  as  he 
spoke,  he  took  hold  of  the  parcel,  and  attempted 
gently  to  take  it  away  from  Lucy.  "  You  can't 
open  it.  You  can't  untie  the  string ;  it  is  in  a 
hard  knot.     I  saw  the  man  tie  it  myself." 

"  Royal !  Royal ! "  said  Lucy,  in  a  tone  of 
displeasure,  "  let  my  book  alone." 

"  It  isn't  a  book,"  said  Royal ;  "  and  you  can't 
open  it,  to  see  what  it  is." 

Royal  did  wrong.  He  ought  to  have  reflected 
that  it  would  have  given  Lucy  great  pleasure  to 
open  the  parcel,  and  he  ought  to  have  been  will- 
ing that  she  should  open  it,  and  to  have  been 
contented  with  giving  her  such  assistance  as  she 
needed.  However,  he  knew  that  it  would  be 
wrong  for  him  to  take  the  parcel  away  by  force, 
and  so  he  let  go  of  it,  and  sat  by,  to  see  Lucy 
open  it. 

Lucy  found  that  she  could  not  untie  the  knot. 
Then  she  looked  about  to  find  her  scissors,  to  cut 
it ;  for  she  had  a  pair  of  scissors,  which  her  moth- 
er had  bought  for  her,  some  time  before ;  but, 


THE    NEW    SLATE. 


11 


then,  as  slie  was  accustomed  to  leave  them  any 
where  about  the  house,  wherever  she  had  been 
using  them,  they  were  continually  getting  lost ; 
and  she  could  not  find  them  now.  Royal,  instead 
of  helping  her,  seemed  rather  inclined  to  tease 
and  trouble  her. 

While  Lucy  was  thus  walking  about  the  room, 
sometimes  looking  for  her  scissors,  and  sometimes 
stopping  to  make  one  more  attempt  to  untie  the 
knot  without  them,  Miss  Anne  came  into  the 
room.  Miss  Anne  was  a  young  lady  about 
seventeen  years  of  age.  Miss  Anne  was  always 
very  kind  to  Lucy. 

"  Miss  Anne,"  said  Lucy,  "  do  you  know 
where  my  scissors  are  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Miss  Anne  ;  "  can't  you  get  your 
parcel  open  ? " 

"  No,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  I  can't  untie  the  knot ; 
and  I  can't  find  my  scissors  to  cut  it." 

Miss  Anne  sat  down  in  a  little  rocking-chair, 
and  asked  Lucy  to  come  to  her,  and  let  her  look 
at  it. 

"  See  what  a  hard  knot,"  said  she. 

"  I  should  have  been  willing  to  have  untied  it 
for  her,"  said  Royal,  "  but  she  would  not  let 
me." 

Miss  Anne  did  not  reply  to  this  remark,  for 


12  lucy's  studies. 

she  supposed  that  probably  Royal  had  offered 
his  help  to  Lucy  in  some  way  which  was  not 
pleasant  to  her. 

"  Should  you  like  to  have  me  loosen  the  knot 
a  little  ?  "  she  said  to  Lucy ;  "  and  then  perhaps 
you  can  untie  it." 

"  O  yes,"  answered  Lucy ;  and  she  put  the 
parcel  into  Miss  Anne's  hands. 

Miss  Anne,  who  understood  the  convolutions 
of  a  knot  better  than  Lucy,  and  who  conse- 
quently knew  just  where  to  attempt  to  open  it, 
soon  got  it  loosened.  Lucy  watched  her,  afraid 
that  she  would  open  it  too  much. 

"There,"  said  she,  "Miss  Anne,  there,  that 
will  do.     I  can  open  it  now." 

So  Miss  Anne  put  the  parcel  into  her  hands, 
and  Lucy  now  succeeded  in  untying  the  knot. 
After  taking  off  the  string,  she  opened  the  paper, 
and  there  came  out  a  handsome  slate,  of  a  beau- 
tiful purple  color,  and  a  red  morocco  frame. 
"  O,  what  a  pretty  slate  !  "  said  Lucy. 
Near  one  corner  of  the  slate  was  a  sort  of 
socket,  made  by  a  duplicature  of  the  morocco, 
and  Lucy  observed  a  slate  pencil  sticking  into  it. 
She  pulled  it  out,  and  said,  — 

"  O,  here  is  a  pencil ;  1  mean  to  mark  on  my 
skte." 


THE    NEW    SLATE.  13 

"  I  expect  you  are  going  to  study  arithmetic," 
said  Miss  Anne. 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  she  is,  and  I  am  going  to 
teach  her." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  " I  would  rather  have  Miss 
Anne  to  teach  me." 

"  No,  Lucy,"  replied  Royal ;  «  mother  said,  if 
I  would  teach  you  to  add  little  sums  in  arithme- 
tic, without  any  carrying,  she  would  give  us  a 
paint-box." 

"  Give  who  a  paint-box  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  you  and  me,"  replied  Royal. 

"Well,"  said  Lucy,  "then  you  may  teach 
me." 

Accordingly  Lucy  went  and  sat  down  by  Roy- 
al upon  the  sofa,  to  take  her  first  lesson  then,  as 
they  were  both  in  haste  to  get  the  paint-box. 
Royal  set  Lucy  a  sum ;  but,  on  looking  at  it  after 
he  had  set  it,  he  rubbed  it  out,  and  set  another. 
This  also  he  rubbed  out.     At  length  Lucy  said,  — 

"  Why,  Royal,  what  makes  you  rub  them  all 
out?" 

"  Because,"  said  Royal,  " there's  carrying  in 
them." 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  carrying," 
said  Lucy. 

Royal  attempted  to  explain  it  to  her,  but  she 

2 


14  lucy's   studies. 

could  not  understand.  He  told  her  that,  when 
she  added  up  a  column,  and  the  amount  was  in 
two  figures,  she  must  carry  one  of  them.  But 
Lucy  could  not  understand  at  all.  She  did  not 
know  what  he  meant,  by  a  "  column,"  or  an 
"  amount,"  or  by  any  thing  being  "  in  two  fig- 
ures." In  the  mean  time,  Miss  Anne,  who  had 
seated  herself  at  the  window,  with  her  sewing, 
went  on  quietly  attending  to  her  work,  until  at 
length  the  conversation  between  Royal  and  Lucy 
cam^.  to  be  almost  a  dispute ;  and  she  said,  — 

"  Royal,  I  thought  you  were  not  going  to 
teach  Lucy  carrying ;  but  only  sums  that  had  no 
carrying  in  them." 

"  So  I  was,"  said  Royal ;  "  but  then  she  asked 
me  herself  what  carrying  was,  and  so  I  had  to 
tell  her." 

"  No,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  you  need  not 
have  attempted  to  explain  it  to  her  fully.  It 
would  have  been  enough  to  have  told  her,  that 
it  was  a  difficult  process  in  addition,  which  she 
would  understand  by  and  by." 

"  Why,  Miss  Anne,"  replied  Royal,  "  I  think 
it  is  very  easy." 

"  It  may  be  easy  to  you,  now  you  understand 
it,  but  difficult  to  her,"  replied  Miss  Anne. 

"Well,"  said  Royal,  "then  I  won't  explain 


THE    NEW    SLATE.  15 

that  to  you  now,  Lucy.  I'll  teach  you  what  car- 
rying is  when  we  come  to  it." 

So  he  went  to  work,  to  set  Lucy  a  sum,  trying 
to  make  the  figures  of  so  small  a  value,  that  there 
should  be  no  carrying  in  any  column.  But  he 
did  not  succeed  very  well.  He  made  the  sums 
so  large  that,  although  he  made  all  the  figures 
ones,  twos,  threes,  and  fours,  yet,  in  some  of 
the  columns,  the  amount,  on  adding  them,  would 
come  more  than  ten  ;  and  of  course  there  would 
be  something  to  carry.  At  last,  however,  he 
succeeded  ;  and  then  he  began  to  teach  Lucy 
how  to  add  up. 

But  the  work  was  altogether  too  difficult  for 
Lucy's  powers.  In  the  first  place,  she  did  not 
know  the  figures,  and  she  could  not  remember 
which  was  two,  and  which  was  three.  Lucy 
tried  to  follow  him  in  his  explanation  and  calcu- 
lation, but  she  soon  became  hopelessly  perplexed 
and  discouraged. 

"  Two  and  two,"  said  Royal,  "  are  how 
many  ?  " 

"  Three,"  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  Royal ;  "  four  ;  and  one  are  how 
many  ?  " 

"  One  is  one,"  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  Royal ;  "  one  makes  five." 


16  lucy's  studies. 

"  One  makes  five  ?  "  repeated  Lucy,  in  a  tone 
of  surprise. 

"Yes,"  said  Royal,  "one  and  four  make 
five." 

"  O,  you  did  not  say  one  and  four,"  replied 
Lucy  ;   "  you  said  one." 

"  No,"  replied  Royal,  "  one  and  four ;  you 
see  we  got  four  by  adding  two  and  two.  Here 
they  are." 

So  saying,  Royal  pointed  to  the  figures  which 
he  had  been  adding. 

Lucy  did  not  know  a  two  from  a  three  very 
well ;  so  she  put  her  head  down  close  to  the  slate, 
and  said,  in  a  gentle,  timid  voice,  — 

"  Is  that  a  two  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal.  "  Let  us  see ;  where 
were  we  ?  We  added  up  to  three,  didn't  we  ? 
and  it  made  six,  didn't  it  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Lucy,  shaking  her  head. 

"  Yes,  it  was  six  ;  and  two  more  make  how 
many  ? " 

"  Five  ? "  asked  Lucy,  timidly. 

"  No  indeed,"  said  Royal ;  "  why,  Lucy,  you 
don't  know  how  to  count." 

"  Yes  I  do,"  said  Lucy. 

"  No  you  don't,"  said  Royal ;  "  you  don't 
know  how  to  count,  I  verily  believe." 


THE    NEW    SLATE.  17 

"  Yes  I  do,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Well,  let's  hear  you  count :  come,  begin." 

"  One,  two,  three,  four,"  said  Lucy,  and  so  far 
she  went  on  very  well ;  but  then  she  began  to 
hesitate,  —  "  four  —  five  —  nine  —  seven." 

Royal  burst  into  a  fit  of  laughter.  "  You 
don't  how  to  count,  Lucy,"  said  he  ;  "  and  how 
do  you  think  I  can  teach  arithmetic  to  a  girl 
that  don't  know  how  to  count  ?  " 

"  Well,  then,  give  me  my  slate,"  said  Lucy, 
"  and  I'll  go  away."  So  she  took  her  slate,  and 
went  away  out  of  the  room,  disappointed,  dis 
couraged,  and  sad. 

As  soon  as  she  had  gone,  Royal's  feelings  be- 
gan to  change  from  those  of  ridicule  to  a  senti- 
ment of  pity.  He  sat  upon  the  sofa  silently 
musing,  when  Miss  Anne  terminated  the  pause 
by  saying,— 

"  I  was  surprised  at  such  ignorance." 

"  So  was  I,"  said  Royal.  "  I  should  have 
thought  any  body  would  have  known  that." 

"  I  should  have  thought  so,  certainly,"  said 
Miss  Anne. 

"  Any  body  five  years  old,"  added  Royal. 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  and  yet  you  are  ten." 

"II"  said  Royal ;  "  yes,  I  am  ten,  but  Lucy 
is  only  five." 

2* 


18 


LUCY'S    STUDIES. 


"  Yes,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  but  I  was  not 
speaking  of  Lucy  ;  I  was  speaking  of  you." 

"  I  thought,"  rejoined  Royal,  "  that  you  were 
speaking  of  the  ignorance  Lucy  showed,  in  not 
knowing  how  to  count." 

"  O  no,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  I  was  speaking  of 
the  ignorance  you  showed." 

"  My  ignorance,"  said  Royal,  surprised.  "  I 
am  sure  I  added  it  right." 

"  I  think  it  very  likely  you  added  it  right," 
said  Miss  Anne ;  "  it  was  your  ignorance  of  human 
nature,  1  was  speaking  of,  not  your  ignorance  of 
anthmetic." 

"  Of  human  nature  ? "  repeated  Royal. 

"  Yes ;  to  think  that  you  could  teach  Lucy 
?.,thmetic  in  that  way." 

"  Why,  I  thought  that  that  was  the  way,"  said 
Royal. 

"  No,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  you  began  at  the 
end,  instead  of  at  the  beginning." 

"  How  ? "  said  Royal. 

"  Why,  you  undertook  to  teach  her  to  add  cer- 
tain sums,  and  you  took  such  sums,  as  difficult  as 
it  was  possible  to  make,  and  got  out  of  humor 
with  her  because  she  could  not  do  them  at  once." 

"  O  Miss  Anne,  they  were  not  as  difficult  as 
could  be  made." 


THE    NEW    SLATE.  19 

"  Yes,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  they  were,  I  pre- 
sume, as  difficult  sums  as  you  could  make,  with- 
out having  any  carrying.  In  fact,  the  first  at- 
tempts which  you  made  to  set  sums,  you  got  the 
figures  so  many,  and  of  so  high  value,  that  you 
couldn't  add  them  without  carrying ;  so  you  re- 
duced them  by  little  and  little,  until  you  just  got 
the  figures  barely  small  enough  to  make  the 
amount  less  than  ten  ;  and  thus  you  made  the 
sums  as  difficult  as  they  could  be  made,  without 
carrying ;  and  this  you  gave  her  for  her  first 
lesson.  The  thing  which  you  were  to  come  to  in 
the  end,  you  took  as  the  beginning. 

"  Then,  besides  this,  I  think  you  were  unrea- 
sonable in  being  dissatisfied  with  her.  When 
your  mother  promised  you  a  paint-box,  if  you 
would  teach  her  to  add  such  sums,  was  it  reason- 
able to  expect  that  she  could  know  how  to  do  it 
already  ? " 

"  Why  —  no,"  said  Royal,  hesitatingly. 

"  And  yet  you  did  expect  it.  You  were  em- 
ployed to  go  over  a  process  with  her,  which 
would  end  in  her  knowing  how  to  do  a  certain 
thing ;  and  then  you  were  vexed  and  out  of 
humor  with  her,  for  not  knowing  how  to  do  the 
thing  at  the  outset,  before  you  had  gone  over  the 
process  at  all." 


10  lucy's  studies. 

"  Why,  I  wasn't  out  of  humor,  Miss  Anne," 
said  Royal. 

"  1  thought  you  were,"  replied  Miss  Anne ;  "  at 
any  rate,  you  spoke  unkindly  to  her,  and  wounded 
her  feelings." 

Here  there  was  a  pause.  Royal  was  really 
sorry  for  what  he  had  done.  He  saw  very 
clearly  the  unreasonableness  and  folly  of  it.  But 
he  did  not  know  exactly  what  to  do. 

"  Well,  Miss  Anne,"  said  he  at  length,  "how 
should  you  have  managed  it  ?  " 

"I,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  should  have  begun 
at  the  beginning,  instead  of  at  the  end." 

"  And  how  would  you  have  begun  at  the  be- 
ginning ?  " 

"  Why,  I  should  have  first  ascertained  exactly 
where  Lucy  was,  in  her  knowledge  of  figures, 
and  then  I  should  have  gone  to  her  there,  and 
led  her  along  by  plain  and  easy  steps  to  where  I 
wanted  her  to  go.  You  must  know  that  teaching 
is  a  kind  of  ladder-making." 

"  Ladder-making  ?  "  repeated  Royal. 

"Yes,"  replied  Miss  Anne;  "that  is,  it  con- 
sists in  preparing  a  succession  of  steps  for  the 
pupil  to  mount  by,  and  the  success  of  it  depends 
upon  beginning  upon  the  ground,  or  wherever  the 
pupil  is,  and  then  having  the  steps  so  near  to- 


THE    NEW    SLATE.  21 

gether,  that  she  can  ascend  from  one  to  the  other, 
and  so  get  up.  Now,  you  did  not  even  stop  to 
inquire  where  Lucy  was  in  her  knowledge,  much 
less  to  make  any  ladder  for  her ;  but  you  remained 
upon  the  top  of  the  house,  and  tried  to  drag  her 
up  by  main  force." 

Royal  laughed  at  Miss  Anne's  singular  met- 
aphor. 

"  Now,  I  should  have  thought,"  continued  Miss 
Anne,  "  that  the  first  thing  would  have  been,  to 
teach  Lucy  the  figures,  at  least  as  many  of  them 
as  you  are  going  to  use  in  the  sums.  This  alone 
will  take  several  lessons.  Then  I  should  set  her 
some  very  small  sums,  with  only  ones  in  them, 
and  let  her  add  those.  Then  I  should  set  some 
more  sums,  and  put  in  a  two  here  and  there,  and 
let  her  practise  a  day  or  two  upon  those.  Then 
I  should  put  one  or  two  threes  into  her  sums,  and 
have  the  rest  ones.  After  that  I  should  put  threes 
and  ticos  both  in ;  and  thus,  after  a  time,  she 
would  get  so  as  to  add  such  sums  as  you  set  her 
just  now." 

"  All  that  would  take  a  great  while,"  said 
Royal. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Miss  Anne  ;  "  teaching  is  slow 
work  ;  but  then  it  would  not  take  so  long  as  it 
would  to  make  a  paint-box." 


22  lucy's  studies. 

"  No,"  replied  Royal,  "  it  would  not." 

"  I  suppose  you  expected  that  you  could  sit 
down  and  earn  your  paint-box  in  half  an  hour, 
and  by  one  single  lesson." 

"  Why  not  exactly  in  one  lesson,"  said  Royal. 

"  In  one  or  two  then,"  said  Miss  Anne  ;  "  where- 
as you  ought  to  calculate  that  it  will  take 
twenty." 

Royal  said  no  more  upon  the  subject  at  this 
time  ;  but  he  determined  to  try  the  plan  which 
Miss  Anne  had  recommended. 


23 


CHAPTER    II. 
A  WAGON  RIDE. 

The  next  day,  after  Royal  had  finished  his 
own  studies,  he  wanted  Lucy  to  come  and  learn 
arithmetic.  But  Lucy  did  not  like  to  come. 
She  wanted  to  play  just  then,  and,  besides,  al- 
though she  did  not  recall  to  mind,  very  distinctly, 
the  manner  in  which  Royal  had  attempted  to 
teach  her  the  evening  before,  yet  the  occurrence 
left  an  unpleasant  impression  upon  her  mind,  and 
she  was  not  disposed  to  put  herself  under  his  in- 
structions again. 

"  But,  then,"  said  Royal,  "  you  can't  have  a 
paint-box." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  don't  care  much." 

After  a  little  pause,  while  Royal  was  thinking 
what  other  inducement  he  could  offer,  he  said,  — 

"  Well,  Lucy,  if  you  will  study  a  lesson  in  arith- 
metic, I  will  give  you  a  good  ride." 

He  meant  that  he  would  give  her  a  ride  in  a 
little  wagon,  which  was  bought  for  Lucy  when 
she  was  too  young  to  walk,  and  which  had  been 


24 


LUCY  S    STUDIES. 


kept  with  so  much  care  that  it  was  still  a  very 
good  wagon.  Royal  used  sometimes  to  draw 
Lucy  in  this  wagon,  and  she  liked  to  ride  in  it 
very  much. 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  how  far  will  you  give 
me  a  ride  ? " 

"  O,  I  will  give  you  a  good  long  ride,"  said 
Royal.    "  I  will  draw  you  away  over  to  Rollo's." 

Lucy's  cousin  Rollo,  who  was  at  this  time  a 
very  small  boy,  lived  at  not  a  great  distance,  and 
Royal  and  Lucy  sometimes  went  over  to  play 
with  him.  So  they  made  the  agreement,  that 
Royal  was  to  draw  Lucy  over  to  Rollo's  and 
Lucy  was  to  learn  a  lesson  in  arithmetic.  But 
then  there  immediately  arose  a  difficulty  in  de- 
termining which  should  take  place  first,  the  lide 
or  the  lesson:  Royal  wanted  to  have  the  lesson 
then,  and  the  ride  some  other  time ;  but  Lucy 
wanted  to  make  sure  of  the  ride,  and  so  postpone 
the  lesson. 

"  Why,  the  rule  is,  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  "  al- 
ways to  pay  when  the  work  is  done.  I'll  pay 
you  for  the  lesson  when  you  have  studied  it." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  the  ride  is  the  work.  I'll 
pay  you  for  the  ride  when  I  have  had  it." 

Royal  thought  that  the  lesson  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered the  work,  and  the  ride  the  pay ;  but  he 


A    WAGON    RIDE.  25 

couldn't  think  of  any  good  reason  to  offer  for  this 
opinion,  and  he  therefore,  after  some  hesitation, 
came  to  Lucy's  terms.  They  brought  out  Lucy's 
wagon,  and,  after  obtaining  permission  of  their 
mother,  he  helped  Lucy  into  it,  and  then,  he 
acting  the  part  of  horse,  and  Lucy  that  of  driver, 
they  went  over  to  their  cousin  Rollo's. 

They  went  into  a  yard  where  there  was  a 
gravel  walk,  which  led  them  around  behind  the 
house.  Here  they  found  Rollo  sitting  upon  a 
bench  near  the  door,  tiying  to  read  in  a  picture- 
book.  He  had  not  learned  to  read  much  yet. 
The  door  was  open,  and  there  were  a  couple  of 
bars  across  the  door-way,  pretty  low  down  ;  and 
behind  them  was  a  little  child,  not  old  enough 
to  walk,  who  was  kept  from  falling  out  into  the 
yard  by  the  bars.  This  was  Rollo's  little  brother 
Nathan. 

By  the  time  that  Royal  had  arrived  at  Rollo's 
house,  he  had  become  quite  interested  in  drawing 
Lucy  in  the  wagon,  and  had  forgotten  his  desire 
to  teach  her  a  lesson  in  arithmetic.    So  he  said,  — ■ 

"  Lucy,  if  Rollo  will  go  with  us,  I'll  draw  you 
farther.  Come,  Rollo,"  said  he, "  come  and  play 
travel  with  us.     I'll  pull,  and  you  push  behind." 

"  No,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  can't  go ; "  I  must  stay 
and  take  care  of  Nathan." 
3 


26  lucy's  studies. 

Royal  and  Lucy  looked  at  Nathan.  He  was 
standing  behind  his  bars,  striking  the  upper  one 
with  a  stick,  evidently  pleased  with  the  rattling, 
but  paying  no  attention  to  the  discussion  which 
was  going  on  among  the  other  children. 

"  Let  Nathan  go  with  us,"  said  Royal. 

"  No  "  said  Rollo,  shaking  his  head ;  "  I  don't 
think  my  mother  will  let  him." 

"  Yes  she  will,"  said  Royal ;  "  Lucy  will  get  out, 
and  let  him  get  into  the  wagon,  and  then  you  and 
Lucy  shall  be  the  horses,  and  I  will  be  the  driver." 

Rollo  still  thought  that  his  mother  would  not 
be  willing  to  let  Nathan  go.  However,  he  said 
that  he  would  go  and  ask  her. 

Rollo's  mother  came  out,  and  said, — 

"  Well,  Royal,  I  hardly  know  what  to  say  to 
your  plan.  Do  you  think  you  can  take  good 
care  of  Nathan  ?  " 

u  O  yes,  aunt,"  said  Royal ;  "  we  will  be  very 
careful  indeed." 

After  some  hesitation,  Nathan's  mother  con- 
sented to  let  them  go.  She  said  -that  she  should 
put  Nathan  under  Royal's  special  charge.  So 
she  put  a  sort  of  a  cloak  upon  his  shoulders,  and  a 
cap  upon  his  head,  and  put  him  into  the  wagon. 
Lucy  and  Rollo  then  took  hold  of  the  tongue 
of  the  wagon,   to  draw,   while   Royal    pushed 


A    WAGON    RIDE.  27 

behind  ;  and  so  they  sallied  forth  from  the  yard, 
Rollo's  mother  standing  at  the  door,  to  watch 
them  as  they  went  along.  Just  as  they  passed 
around  the  comer  of  the  house,  she  gave  them 
her  last  charges ;  which  were  to  keep  in  the 
smooth  road,  and  to  be  very  careful  about  turning. 

The  children,  promising  to  obey  these  instruc- 
tions, passed  on  around  the  corner,  and  turned 
into  the  road. 

They  went  on  for  some  distance,  without  any 
difficulty  or  trouble.  At  last,  they  came  to  a 
place  where  a  road  branched  off  from  the  main 
road,  and  led  into  the  woods.  They  turned  into 
this  road,  for  Royal  said  that  it  led  to  a  place 
where  they  could  get  some  flowers.  Both  Rollo 
and  Lucy  said  they  should  like  this  very  much, 
for  they  wanted  to  have  some  flowers.  Rollo 
said  that  he  was  going  to  study  botany  ;  his  moth- 
er was  going  to  teach  him. 

"  I  wish  I  could  study  botany,"  said  Lucy ;  "  1 
should  like  botany  a  great  deal  better  than  arith- 
metic." 

"  Well,"  said  Royal,  "I  can  teach  you." 

"  O  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  "  you  don't  know  how 
to  study  botany." 

"  Yes,  I  do,"  said  Royal.  "  The  first  thing  is  to 
study  the  leaves  ;  you  must  gather  all  the  differ- 


28  lucy's  studies. 

ent  kinds  of  leaves  you  can  find,  and  press  them 
in  a  book." 

"  What  good  does  that  do  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  then  you  know  how  many  different  shapes 
of  leaves  there  are,"  he  replied. 

Rollo  had  put  his  picture-book  into  the  wagon, 
just  before  they  had  set  out  from  the  house, 
thinking  that  perhaps  they  might  stop  at  some 
place,  where  he  would  want  to  look  at  it.  So  he 
asked  Royal  if  his  picture-book  would  do  to  put 
the  leaves  into,  and  Royal  said  it  would  do  very 
well.  And  they  all  determined  that,  after  they 
had  gone  a  little  farther,  they  would  stop  and  get 
some  leaves  by  the  side  of  the  road. 

They  were  now  in  a  sort  of  by-road,  leading 
through  the  woods  ;  but  presently  they  came  to  a 
kind  of  cart  path,  which  turned  out  to  one  side, 
and  seemed  to  lead  to  places  still  more  solitary 
than  where  they  were.  Royal  wanted  to  turn  off 
into  this  cart  path. 

"  It  will  be  a  beautiful  place  to  study  botany, 
in  there,"  said  he. 

"  No,''  said  Rollo,  "  we  must  not  go  in  there  ; 
for  mother  said  that  we  must  keep  in  smooth 
roads." 

*{  Well,"  replied  Royal,  "  that  is  a  smooth 
road.     It  is  just  as  smooth  as  this." 


A    WAGON    RIDE.  29 

Royal  and  Lucy  looked  in.  The  road  was  in- 
deed smooth,  but  then  it  was  narrow,  and  Rollo  did 
not  know  into  what  difficulties  it  might  lead  them. 
He  was  quite  reluctant  to  go  in.  But  Royal 
assured  him  that  there  was  no  danger;  and  he 
said,  also,  that,  if  they  should  find  any  rough 
places  after  they  had  got  in  some  way,  they 
could  easily  turn  around  and  come  out. 

So  Rollo  consented,  and  they  turned  off  into 
the  cart  path. 

After  they  had  gone  in  for  some  distance, 
Royal  said  that  they  had  got  to  a  good  place  to  col- 
lect leaves.  So  Lucy  and  Rollo  put  the  tongue  of 
the  wagon  down  in  the  road,  and  went  to  the 
banks  on  each  side,  and  began  to  gather  the 
leaves  from  the  various  wild  plants  which  were 
growing  there.  These  leaves  were  of  all  shapes : 
some  were  long  and  pointed,  others  oval,  others 
nearly  round  ;  some  were  shaped  like  a  heart, 
some  notched  along  the  edges  like  a  saw,  and 
one  which  Royal  got  down  from  an  oak-tree, 
Lucy  said,  wasn't  shaped  like  any  thing  at  all. 

While  they  were  collecting  these  leaves,  Lucy 
suddenly  called  out  to  Rollo,  who  was  upon  the 
side  of  the  road  with  her,  — 

"  O  Rollo,  Rollo,  come  here !  here  is  a  little 
squirrel !  come  and  see  him."  — 
3* 


30  lucy's  studies. 

."  Where  ?  where  ?  "  said  Rollo,  running  to- 
wards the  place ;  "  let  me  see ;  let  me  see." 

Royal,  hearing  this  call,  immediately  dropped  a 
large  collection  of  leaves  and  flowers,  which  he 
had  gathered,  and  ran  across  the  road.  When  he 
first  got  sight  of  the  squirrel,  he  was  standing  upon 
his  hind  legs  on  the  end  of  a  half-decayed  log, 
holding  a  nut  between  his  fore  paws,  which  he  nib- 
bled a  little  from  time  to  time,  keeping,  however. 
a  sharp  lookout  upon  the  children  all  the  while. 

"  I'll  catch  him  in  my  cap,"  said  he. 

In  the  mean  time,  little  Nathan,  who  had  been 
left  in  his  wagon  in  the  path-way,  and  who  was 
yet  too  young  to  appreciate  the  pleasure  and 
the  utility  of  making  botanical  collections,  began 
to  make  a  sort  of  murmuring  sound,  which  indi 
cated  restlessness  and  discontent. 

"  Yes,  INathan,"  said  Rollo,  calling  out  to  him, 
"  we'll  come  in  a  minute." 

Royal  crept  up  softly  towards  the  squirrel,  with 
his  cap  in  the  air,  ready  to  make  him  prisoner. 
Rollo  and  Lucy  looked  on  with  great  interest, 
while  Nathan,  who  had  not  yet  learned  to  place 
much  confidence  in  promises,  seemed  still  more 
uneasy.  The  squirrel  stuffed  the  remains  of  his 
nut  into  his  cheek,  leaped  off  the  log,  and  ran 
along  upon  the  ground. 


A    WAGON    RIDE.  31 

"  You  go  and  take  care  of  Nathan,"  said  Roy- 
al, "  and  I'll  run  and  catch  the  squirrel.  You  can 
go  and  help  him,  Lucy." 

"  But  we  want  to  see  you  catch  the  squirrel," 
said  Lucy. 

"  O,  never  mind  that,"  said  Royal,  looking  back 
towards  them,  and  speaking  in  a  hurried  manner, 
as  he  crept  along  after  the  squirrel ;  "  1  shall  have 
to  chase  him  ever  so  far,  and  you  can't  keep  up ; 
but  you  shall  have  a  share  in  him  just  the  same, 
when  I  catch  him.  So  run  back  and  take  care 
of  Nathan." 

Thus  urged,  the  two  children  went  back  to  the 
road,  while  Royal  went  on  in  pursuit  of  the 
squirrel.  Lucy  and  Rollo  showed  Nathan  their 
leaves  and  flowers,  and  gave  him  a  large  lily  to 
pull  to  pieces.  By  these  means  they  had  just 
succeeded  in  getting  him  quiet  and  amused,  when 
Rollo  saw  a  cow  walking  slowly  along  the  path, 
towards  the  place  where  they  and  the  wagon 
were  standing.  This  threw  the  children  into  a 
state  of  great  alarm ;  for,  although  the  cow  was 
really  innocent  of  any  bad  design,  the  children 
thought  they  saw  in  her  countenance  a  very 
determined  and  threatening  expression.  They 
thought  she  was  coming  to  bite  them,  or  at  least 
that  she  would  certainly  run  over  Nathan. 


32  lucy's  studies. 

Rollo's  first  design  was,  to  look  around  for  a 
stick,  and  drive  her  away,  which,  on  the  whole, 
would  have  been  the  most  judicious  plan.  But 
Lucy,  being  a  girl,  was  naturally  more  inclined  to 
retreat  than  to  give  battle ;  and  she  called  upon 
Rollo  to  help  her  draw  the  wagon  out  of  the  road, 
so  as  to  give  the  cow  the  opportunity  to  get  by. 
They  accordingly  took  hold  of  the  tongue  of  the 
wagon,  and,  turning  it  short  round,  began  to  pull 
hard  upon  it,  to  get  their  little  charge  out  of  the 
danger. 

In  their  eagerness  and  trepidation,  however, 
they  turned  the  tongue  too  short  about,  so  as  to 
lock  one  of  the  fore  wheels  under  the  wagon,  and 
then,  as  very  often  happens  under  such  circum- 
stances, by  the  violence  of  their  effort  the  wagon 
was  upset ;  and  Nathan,  the  fragments  of  the 
lily,  the  picture-book,  and  the  cushion  on  which 
Nathan  had  been  seated,  all  rolled  out  together 
upon  the  ground.  The  cow  paid  no  attention 
whatever  to  their  terror  and  distress,  but  walked 
by  very  deliberately  on  the  other  side. 

Nathan  was  not  hurt.  He  looked  a  little  wild 
when  they  took  him  up,  and  even  began  to  cry 
a  little  ;  but  Lucy  soon  hushed  him,  sitting  down 
upon  the  bank,  and  holding  him  in  her  lap,  while 
Rollo  set  the  wagon  up  again,  and  replaced  the 


A    WAGON    RIDE.  35 

things  which  had  been  thrown  out.  Then,  while 
Lucy  continued  to  amuse  Nathan,  Rollo  went  to 
see  if  he  could  find  Royal. 

After  going  on  for  some  distance,  he  found  him 
returning  slowly,  with  his  cap  upon  his  head,  and 
a  strange-looking  thing  in  his  hand. 

"  Have  you  caught  him  ? "  said  Rollo. 

"  Caught  what  ?  "  said  Royal. 

"  The  squirrel,"  replied  Rollo. 

"O  —  no,"  said  Royal,  "but  I  have  got  a 
most  curious-looking  thing  here." 

"What  is  it?"  said  Rollo. 

"  A  kind  of  a  fungus,"  replied  Royal.  "  J 
found  it  growing  on  a  tree." 

Royal  showed  Rollo  the  fungus,  and  he  thought 
it  was  a  very  curious  thing  indeed.  Then  Rollo 
told  him  the  story  of  the  accident  which  had  hap- 
pened in  the  cart  path.  Royal  was  somewhat 
alarmed  at  this,  and  he  hastened  to  the  place.  He 
felt  somewhat  condemned  for  having  gone  away 
and  left  his  charge  in  the  hands  of  such  guardians 
as  Rollo  and  Lucy,  and  so  he  very  assiduously 
helped  them  replace  Nathan  in  his  wagon,  and  turn 
it  round.  The  leaves  which  they  had  collected 
were  all  scattered  upon  the  ground ;  even  those 
which  had  been  put  into  the  picture-book  had 
fallen  out  when  the  wagon  had  been  upset;  so 


36  lucy's  studies. 

that,  when  the  children  had  got  nearly  home, 
they  recollected  that  they  had  left  their  whole 
botanical  collection  behind  ihem.  And  this  was 
the  end  of  Lucy's  attempts  to  pursue  the  study 
of  botany,  for  several  years. 


37 


CHAPTER    III. 
THE   MAGAZINE. 

Neither  Royal  nor  Lucy  thought  any  thing 
more  of  their  arithmetic  for  several  days.  Lucy's 
slate  got  put  up  upon  a  shelf  in  the  closet,  and 
was  entirely  forgotten.  One  day,  however,  when 
Rollo  and  Lucy  were  walking  in  a  little  lane  by 
the  side  of  the  garden,  they  found  a  beautiful 
flower,  growing  near  a  large,  flat  stone. 

"  O,  what  a  beautiful  blue  flower !  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal ;  "  give  it  to  me." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  want  to  cany  it  home 
to  my  mother." 

"  O,  mother  won't  care  about  it,"  said  Royal ; 
"  give  it  to  me,  and  I  will  press  it  in  a  book." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy. 

"  And  then,"  continued  Royal,  "  we  can  draw 
a  copy  of  it,  and  paint  it." 

"  We  haven't  got  our  paint-box  yet,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  No,  we  haven't,"  said  Royal.  "  And  that's 
4 


38  lucy's  studies. 

because  I  haven't  finished  teaching  you  arithmetic. 
Come,  let  us  go  and  take  a  lesson  now." 

Lucy,  however,  was  not  much  inclined  to  take 
her  lesson.  After  some  conversation,  however, 
Royal,  finding  that  Lucy  had  no  inclination  to 
study  arithmetic  at  all,  and  reflecting  that  this 
aversion  was  his  own  fault,  concluded  that  he 
must  win  her  back  again  to  the  work  by  dexter- 
ous management. 

So  he  said,  — 

"  Well,  Lucy,  I'll  tell  you  what  we  will  do. 
We'll  carry  this  blue  flower  to  the  house,  and  I'll 
make  a  drawing  of  it  upon  your  slate." 

"  So  we  will,"  said  Lucy.  In  fact,  she  was 
very  much  pleased  with  this  plan ;  and  the 
two  children  set  off  accordingly  for  the  house,  to 
make  the  drawing.  After  some  search,  they 
found  the  slate,  but  the  pencil  was  gone.  Royal, 
however,  had  a  pencil  of  his  own,  in  a  little  box, 
which  he  kept  under  a  sky-light  in  the  garret, 
and  he  and  Lucy  went  up  into  the  garret  in  pur- 
suit of  it. 

This  box,  or  chest,  —  for  it  was  properly  a  smal1 
chest,  —  was  ihe  place  where  Royal  kept  a  con 
siderable  number  of  his  old  playthings,  especially 
such  as  were  somewhat  out  of  use.     He  called  i 


THE    MAGAZINE.  39 

his  magazine.  His  father  had  told  him  that  a 
magazine  was  a  place  where  people  kept  things 
m  store  :  and  so  he  thought  that  magazine  would 
be  a  good  name  for  this  depository  of  his. 

Royal  lifted  up  the  lid  of  his  magazine,  and 
there,  among  a  great  number  of  other  things, 
there  was  a  small  pasteboard  box,  without  a 
cover.  In  this  box  were  several  slate  and  lead 
pencils,  wafers,  and  pieces  of  India  rubber ;  also 
the  handle  of  a  knife,  and  one  half  of  a  pair  of 
scissors.  Royal  called  it  his  scissor.  He  said  he 
meant  one  day  to  grind  the  blade  down  to  an  edge, 
and  then  it  would  make  a  good  knife,  which  he 
meant  to  call  his  scissor-knife.  Lucy  wanted  to 
look  at  it,  and  at  a  great  many  other  curious 
things,  which  she  saw  in  the  magazine ;  but  Roy- 
al said  no,  and,  putting  down  the  lid  of  the  chest, 
after  he  had  taken  out  the  pencil,  he  sat  down 
upon  it,  and  asked  Lucy  to  sit  down  by  his 
side. 

He  immediately  began,  according  to  his  prom- 
ise, to  draw  Lucy  the  picture  of  the  flower.  First 
he  made  the  stem,  then  a  little  root  at  the  bottom 
of  it,  then  a  few  long,  slender  leaves  growing  out 
around  the  stalk,  and  finally  the  flower. 

The  flower  was  the  most  difficult   part;  but 


40  litcy's  studies. 

Royal  succeeded  in  representing  it  to  Lucy's 
entire  satisfaction ;  and,  when  he  had  finished  it, 
he  said,  — 

"  Now,  Lucy,  that  we  are  here,  you'd  better 
let  me  teach  you  one  of  the  figures.  I'll  just 
teach  you  the  figure  one ;  that's  very  easy.  It's 
nothing  but  a  mark." 

So  Royal  made  a  mark  upon  the  slate  for  the 
figure  one,  and  then  put  the  pencil  into  Lucy's 
hands,  that  she  might  attempt  to  imitate  it.  Lucy 
made  a  mark  as  nearly  as  she  could  like  Royal's, 
only  it  was  a  great  deal  too  long. 

"  That's  very  well,  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  "  very 
well  indeed  for  the  first,  only  it  isn't  necessary  to 
make  it  quite  so  long.  You  must  make  the  next 
one  shorter." 

Lucy  accordingly  made  another ;  and  she 
stopped  sooner  than  she  had  done  before,  so  as 
to  make  the  mark  shorter  than  she  had  done 
at  first.  Royal  said  it  was  a  very  good  one 
indeed.  Lucy,  finding  that  Royal,  instead  of 
upbraiding  or  ridiculing  her,  was  pleased  and 
satisfied  with  her '  attempts,  began  to  feel  grat- 
ified herself;  and  she  said  that  she  should  like 
much  to  make  some  more  ones ;  and  Royal  ac- 
cordingly  told   her   to  make    a  row    of   them 


THE    MAGAZINE.  41 

quite  across  the  slate  near  the  top.  She  made 
ihem,  on  the  whole,  very  well,  though  some  of 
them  were  crooked. 

"It  is  very  hard  to  make  straight  letters," 
said  she. 

"  Straight  figures,  you  mean,"  said  Royal. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  straight  figures.  Crooked 
figures  are  much  easier  to  make.  I  can  make 
a  three.     I'm  going  to  make  a  three." 

"No,"  said  Royal,  "  two  comes  next." 

"  I  don't  care,"  said  Lucy ;  "  I  can't  make  a 
two,  but  I  can  make  a  three,  and  so  I  am  going 
to  make  that  next." 

"No,"  said  Royal,  "you  mustn't  make  a  three 
next ;  that  is  out  of  order.  Besides,  I  am  your 
teacher,  and  you  must  mind  me." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  am  going  to  make  what 
I  choose." 

Royal  and  Lucy  were  both  wrong  in  this  dis- 
cussion. 

Lucy  was  wrong,  for  the  last  of  the  reasons 
which  Royal  assigned,  namely,  that  he  was  her 
teacher,  and  therefore  she  ought  to  have  obeyed 
him.  The  first  of  Royal's  reasons,  however,  was 
not  valid,  —  namely,  that,  because  two  comes 
before  three  in  numeration,  therefore  it  ought  to 
be  made  first.  The  successive  steps  of  a  study 
4  =• 


42  l.ucy's  studies. 

ought  to  be  taken  in  their  natural  order,  when  one 
depends  upon  another.  For  instance,  a  child 
ought  to  learn  how  to  subtract  before  undertaking 
to  learn  how  to  divide,  for  division  depends  upon 
subtraction.  You  cannot  well  divide  without 
subtracting.  But  in  merely  learning  the  forms  of 
the  figures,  there  is  no  dependence  of  one  upon 
the  other,  and  therefore  they  may  be  taught  in 
any  order  which  the  teacher  thinks  best. 

Therefore,  if  Royal,  who  was  the  teacher,  had 
thought  it  best  to  have  taught  Lucy  to  make  the 
figure  nine,  or  eight,  or  the  cipher,  next  to  one, 
because  he  supposed  that  those  characters  would 
be  more  easy  for  Lucy  to  form,  it  would  not 
have  been  at  all  improper;  and  therefore  his 
argument,  that  two  ought  to  be  made  next  to 
one,  simply  because  it  comes  next  to  it  as  a 
number,  was  not  a  valid  argument.  But  his 
second  reason  was  valid ;  for  it  is  always  the 
duty  of  a  pupil  to  follow  the  directions  of  the 
teacher,  whether  the  pupil  approves  of  the  direc- 
tions or  not. 

But,  then,  although  Lucy  did  very  wrong  in 
resisting  and  disobeying  the  will  of  her  teacher, 
Royal  himself  acted  very  unwisely,  in  being  so 
strenuous  in  requiring  a  compliance  with  it.  His 
whole  hope  of  success  in  his  efforts  to  teach  his 


THE    MAGAZINE.  43 

sister,  and  so  to  gain  the  paint-box,  depended 
necessarily  upon  keeping  on  good  terms  with  her, 
and  making  her  willing  to  follow  his  instructions. 
If  Miss  Anne  had  been  in  Royal's  place,  she 
would  not  have  had  any  contention  with  her 
upon  the  subject.  She  would  have  allowed  her 
to  make  the  three  next,  and  then,  after  the  lesson 
was  over,  she  would  have  said,  perhaps,  — ■ 

"  Now,  Lucy,  you  have  been  a  pretty  good 
scholar.  You  have  obeyed  my  directions  very 
well  generally,  and  I  am  therefore  going  to 
let  you  see  the  things  in  my  magazine.  Only 
there  was  one  time  that  you  didn't  obey  me. 
When  I  wanted  you  to  make  twos,  you  would 
make  threes,  and  so  I  can't  let  you  see  all  the 
tilings  in  my  magazine.  There  are  some  little 
pictures  in  a  pocket-book,  which  1  cannot  let  you 
see  ;  but  the  next  time  you  study,  if  you  obey  me 
perfectly,  then  I  will  let  you  see  the  pictures  in 
my  pocket-book." 

Or,  if  Miss  Anne  had  thought  that  this  would 
have  made  Lucy  cry,  and  so  have  been  the  cause 
of  making  disturbance  in  the  family,  then  she  would 
have  had  some  slighter  punishment,  just  enough 
not  to  make  her  cry.  She  did  so  once,  when 
Lucy  was  younger  and  more  ready  to  cry.  She 
was  taking  a  walk  with  her,  and  Lucy  did  not 


44 


LUCY'S    STUDIES. 


come  back  quick  when  she  called  her  away  from 
the  shore  of  a  brook.  Accordingly,  when  they 
were  going  home,  and  Lucy  asked  Miss  Anne  to 
tell  her  a  story,  Miss  Anne  said,  — • 

"  A  short  or  a  long  one  ?  " 

"  O,  a  long  one,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Well,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  I  will  tell  you  a 
pretty  long  one,  because  you  have  obeyed  me 
pretty  well  while  we  have  been  walking ;  but  I 
cannot  tell  you  a  very  long  one,  because  you  did 
not  obey  me  all  the  time."  By  always  doing 
something  like  this,  Miss  Anne  soon  succeeded  in 
making  Lucy  disposed  to  obey  her  at  all  times. 

Royal,  however,  by  his  opposition  to  Lucy's 
desire,  only  disturbed  and  ruffled  her  mind,  and 
made  her  less  inclined  to  comply  with  his  wishes 
on  the  next  occasion  which  might  occur.  And,  in 
fact,  another  occasion  came  very  soon. 

For  it  happened  that  Lucy,  in  making  her 
figure  three,  reversed  the  form  of  it,  so  as  to  have 
the  open  part  come  to  the  right,  instead  of  to  the 
left,  as  it  ought  to  do.  Children  very  often  make 
this  mistake,  when  they  first  attempt  to  form  the 
figure  three.  Royal,  seeing  the  figure  which 
she  made,  began  immediately  to  laugh  at  it 
This  disturbed  Lucy's  mind  more  than  what  had 


THE    MAGAZINE.  45 

taken  place  before.  She  looked  up  to  Royal  as 
if  wondering  what  he  was  laughing  at,  and  said, — ■ 

"  You  needn't  laugh,  Royal  ;  that  is  a  three  " 

"  No,  it  isn't  a  three,"  said  P.oyal. 

"  I  tell  you  it  is  a  three,"  replied  Lucy.  "  Miss 
Anne  showed  me  how  to  make  it  one  day." 

"  O  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  "  Miss  Anne  never 
made  such  a  three  as  that  in  her  life.  That  is 
an  £." 

In  fact,  the  letter  E  is  often  made,  in  writing,  of 
very  much  such  a  form  as  Lucy's  reversed  figure 
assumed ;  but  Lucy  insisted  that  it  was  right,  and 
that  she  meant  to  make  a  whole  row  of  thetn. 
Royal,  who  now  began  to  feel  somewhat  out  of 
humor  himself,  lost  sight  entirely  of  the  principle 
with  which  he  had  begun,  of  making  amends  for 
his  former  roughness  by  kind  and  dexterous  man- 
agement. He  insisted  that  Lucy  should  let  him 
have  the  pencil,  and  he  would  show  her  how  the 
figure  ought  to  be  made.  But  she  would  not ;  she 
said  that  she  knew  that  that  way  was  right,  and 
she  was  going  to  make  a  whole  row  of  them. 

Then  Royal  said  that  she  should  not  have  his 
pencil  any  more,  for  he  wouldn't  have  his  pencil 
used  to  make  such  ridiculous  threes  as  those  were, 
which,  as  he  said,  looked  like  threes  turned  wrong 
side  out.     So  Lucy  gave  him  his  pencil,  and  got 


46 


LUCY  S    STUDIES. 


up  from  the  chest,  and  walked  away  down  stairs. 
Royal  remained  behind,  to  put  his  pencil  back 
into  his  box.  Then  he  began  to  look  over  and 
rearrange  the  various  articles  which  were  stored 
in  his  magazine.  He  found  the  wheels  and  body 
of  a  small  wagon,  and  he  went  to  work  to  put  them 
together ;  and  he  remained  occupied  in  this  work 
for  nearly  half  an  hour. 

Before  this  time  had  expired,  however,  he  had 
opportunity  to  reflect  upon  his  conversation  with 
Lucy,  and  he  saw  that  he  had  not  managed 
wisely.  He  began  to  feel  quite  sorry  that  he 
had  not  treated  her  with  more  tenderness  and  con- 
sideration. While  he  was  in  this  state  of  mind, 
he  suddenly  began  to  hear  footsteps  upon  the 
garret  stairs.  He  knew  at  once,  by  the  sound, 
that  it  was  Lucy  coming  up  again.  When  she 
reached  the  head  of  the  stairs,  he  found  that  she 
had  her  slate  in  her  hand. 

Lucy  walked  along  towards  Royal,  with  a  good- 
natured  and  pleasant  expression  of  countenance, 
and  held  out  the  slate  for  him  to  see  what  was 
written  upon  it.  Royal  saw  that  there  was  a  row 
of  threes,  all  made  very  neatly  and  correctly,  and 
with  the  open  part  turned  the  right  way. 

"  Ah,"  said  he,  "  Lucy,  who  made  them?" 

"  I,"  replied  Lucy 


THE    MAGAZINE. 


47 


"  Who  showed  you  how  ?  "  asked  Royal. 

"  Miss  Anne,"  replied  Lucy. 

"  Those  are  right,"  said  Royal  He  was 
just  ready  to  say,  I  told  you  you  made  them 
wrong  before ;  but,  then,  he  reflected  that  it 
would  not  be  pleasant  to  her,  for  him  to  triumph 
over  her,  and  so  he  only  said,  "  Those  are  right." 

"  And  now,  Lucy,"  he  continued,  "  you  may 
see  me  put  my  wagon  together,  and  then  to-morrow 
you  shall  learn  to  make  twos." 

That  afternoon,  Miss  Anne  questioned  Royal 
about  the  lesson  he  had  been  giving  Lucy,  and 
Royal  repeated  to  her,  as  nearly  as  he  could  rec- 
ollect, all  that  took  place. 

"  I  got  along  a  little  better,"  he  said,  when  he 
had  finished  his  account,  "  than  I  did  the  first 
time." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Miss  Anne,  "  you  have  learned 
something.  You  have  got  along  just  about  as  far 
in  the  art  of  teaching,  as  Lucy  has  in  arithmetic.. 
If  you  both  persevere,  you'll  learn  after  a  time." 


43 


CHAPTER    IV. 
WHERE   IS   ROYAL? 

Lucy  came  one  evening  and  climbed  up  into 
her  father's  lap. 

"  Father,"  said  she,  "  I  wish  you  would  let  me 
study  something  besides  what  I  study  now." 

"  Why,  what  do  you  study  now  ? "  asked  her 
lather. 

"  Only  reading  and  spelling  at  school,  and 
arithmetic  at  home  with  Royal." 

"  Isn't  that  enough  ?  "  said  her  father. 

"  No,  sir,"  replied  Lucy ;  "  I  want  to  study 
something  else." 

"Well,"  said  her  father,  "I'll  give  you  some- 
thing to  study,  and  I'll  study  it  with  you." 

"  O,  well,"  said  Lucy,  much  pleased. 

"  Let  me  see,"  added  her  father,  looking  around 
the  room.  "  What  shall  it  be  ?  What  shall  we 
study  ?     I'll  tell  you  ;  we'll  study  the  windows." 

"  O  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  we  can't  study  the 
windows." 

"  O,  yes,"  replied  her  father,  "  there  is  a  great 


WHERE    IS    ROYAL  ?  49 

deal  to  be  learned  about  windows.  Look  at  one 
of  the  windows,  and  tell  me  what  you  observe." 

So  Lucy  looked  at  the  window  a  moment, 
and  then  said,  — 

"  No,  father,  I  don't  observe  any  thing  about 
the  windows  at  all." 

"  /  observe  several  things  that  are  peculiar." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  peculiar,  father  ? " 
asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  whatever  one  thing  has,  which  other 
things  do  not  have,  is  peculiar  to  it.  Thus  roots 
are  peculiar  to  plants,  for  other  things  do  not 
have  roots.  Now,  look  at  the  window,  and  see 
if  you  find  any  thing  peculiar  in  it." 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  I  think  it  is  just  like  all 
other  windows." 

"  But  I  didn't  wish  you  to  find  any  thing  pe- 
culiar to  this  window  alone,  which  distinguishes  it 
from  other  windows,  but  something  peculiar  to  all 
windows,  which  distinguish  them  from  the  other 
parts  of  a  building.  I  notice  one  thing  which  is 
very  peculiar." 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"Why,  they  are  transparent." 

"  What  is  transparent  1  "    asked  Lucy. 

"  Any  thing  that  you  can  see  through  is  trans- 
parent," said  her  father.  "  Water  is  transparent ; 
5 


50  lucy's  studies. 

glass  is  transparent ;  some  ice  is  transparent. 
Now,  windows  are  made  of  glass,  which  is  transpa- 
rent, for  two  reasons :  First,  in  order  that  the  light 
may  shine  in  and  illuminate  the  room,  so  that  we 
can  see  to  walk  about  in  it,  and  to  read,  and  to  sew. 
The  other  reason  is,  that  we  can  look  out  through 
the  window,  and  see  the  scenery,  and  the  persons 
pass  along  the  street.  Those  are  the  reasons 
why  windows  are  made  of  something  transparent. 

"  There  is  also  something  peculiar,"  said  her 
father,  "  in  the  mode  in  which  windows  open. 
How  do  they  open  ?  " 

"  Right  upwards,"  said  Lucy,  making  a  motion 
with  her  hands,  as  if  she  was  opening  a  window. 

"  And  how  do  doors  open  ? "  asked  her  father. 

"  Right  sideways,"  said  she. 

"  Now,  can  you  think  of  any  reason  why  win- 
dows should  open  by  sliding  upward,  and  doors 
by  swinging  out  upon  hinges  ? 

"  First,  why  shouldn't  windows  open  like 
doors,  by  swinging  out  upon  hinges  ?  " 

"  Why,  they  might  get  broken  by  the  wind," 
said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  father  ;  "  doors  are  very  often 
shut  violently  by  the  wind ;  and  this  would 
doubtless  often  happen  to  windows,  if  they  were 
hunff  in  a  similar  manner." 


WHERE    IS    ROYAL  ?  51 

"  Once  I  saw  a  house,"  said  Lucy,  "  where 
ihe  window  was  broken,  and  the  people  had  put 
a  piece  of  board  in  the  place  of  the  glass." 

"  Yes,"  said  her  father,  "  perhaps  they  had  no 
more  glass.  But  there  is  another  reason  why 
windows  shouldn't  open  like  doors.  Can  you 
think    what   it   is  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  can't  think." 

"  If  windows  opened  upon  hinges,  like  doors, 
they  must  either  open  outward  into  the  open  air,  or 
inward  towards  the  room.  If  they  were  made  to 
open  outward,  then,  when  they  were  wide  open, 
they  would  swing  back  against  the  side  of  the 
house,  and  it  would  be  very  inconvenient  to  reach 
them  to  shut  them." 

"  We  could  go  out  of  doors,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  her  father,  "  but  that  would  be 
very  inconvenient,  especially  if  there  came  up  a 
sudden  shower  of  rain,  and  we  wished  to  shut 
the  windows  quick. 

"  But,  on  the  other  hand,"  continued  her  fa- 
ther, "  if  the  windows  were  made  to  open  inwards, 
then  they  would  be  apt  to  knock  the  things  over 
on  the  table.  We  often  have  a  table  before  a 
window,  but  we  never  have  a  table  before  a  door  ; 
for  it  would  be  in  the  way  when  we  wanted  to 
pass  in  and  out.     So  you  see  the  reasons,  why  it 


52  lucy's  studies. 

is  better  that  windows  should  be  made  to  slide  up 
and  down,  and  doors  to  open  upon  hinges." 

"  But,  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  why  couldn't  doors 
be  made  to  slide  up  and  down  like  windows  ?  " 

"  Think  of  it  yourself,"  said  her  father,  "  and  see 
if  you  can  think  of  any  difficulty." 

"Why  —  yes,"  said  Lucy.  "Suppose  they 
wanted  me  to  open  the  door.  Well,  and  then  they 
tell  me  to  shut  the  door :  well,  then  I  go  and  try, 
but  I  can't  reach  up  to  the  door :  well,  then  I  get 
a  chair,  and  I  try  to  climb  up,  and  —  and  the  door 
sticks,  and  I  can't  pull  it  down,  and  perhaps  I 
tumble  down  and  hurt  me.  An't  those  dif- 
ficulties ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  her  father,  "and  perhaps,  too,  the 
door  would  sometimes  be  left  not  shoved  up  quite 
high  enough,  and  then  people  would  bump  their 
heads." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy ;  "  and,  father,  Georgie 
bumped  his  head  the  other  day,  and  the  teacher 
asked  him  to  spell  bumper.'''' 

"  And  did  that  make  him  forget  his  pain  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,  but  he  didn't  spell  his  word  right." 

"  Didn't  he  ?  "  said  her  father.  "  Then  his  ex- 
perience of  the  thing  did  not  teach  him  the  or- 
thography of  the  word." 

"  What,  sir  ?  "  said  Lucy. 


WHERE    IS    ROYAL  t  53 

:c  His  experience  of  the  thing  did  not  teach 
him  the  orthography  of  the  word,"  repeated  hei 
father. 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  that,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  Why,  by  bumping  his  own  head,  he  experi- 
enced the  thing,  but  yet  he  could  not  spell  the 
word.  The  orthography  of  a  word  means  the 
spelling  of  it." 

"  I  did  not  know  that  before,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Then  I  should  like  to  have  you  take  pains  to 
remember  it,"  said  her  father. 

"  I  don't  think  I  can  remember  such  a  long 
word,"  said  Lucy. 

"  The  way  to  fix  it  in  your  mind,"  said  her 
father,  "  is  to  repeat  it  a  great  number  of  times. 
Say  orthography." 

So  Lucy  repeated  the  word  after  her  father. 

"  Now  repeat  it  ten  times,"  said  her  father, 
"and  count  by  means  of  your  ringers." 

So  Lucy  repeated  the  word  orthography  ten 
times,  touching  the  thumb  and  fingers  of  her  left 
hand  in  succession  as  she  did  so,  and  then  the 
thumb  and  fingers  of  her  right  hand.  By  doing 
this,  she  rendered  the  sound  of  the  word  some- 
what familiar,  and  also  accustomed  herself  to  pro- 
nounce it. 

5* 


54  LUCY  S    STUDIES. 

"  Now,"  said  her  father,  "  go  out  and  find 
Royal,  and  tell  him  all  I  have  told  you  about 
windows ;  and  also  tell  him  that  orthography 
means  spelling.  That  will  help  you  remember 
the  whole  lesson." 

"  Is  that  a  lesson  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  father,  "  it  is  a  lesson  ;  and  it 
will  be  quite  a  good  lesson  for  you,  I  hope.  It 
will  teach  you  to  observe  particularly  what  you 
see ;  and  to-morrow  morning  I  will  give  you  the 
sequel  to  it." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  sequel  1  "  said  Lucy. 

"  I  will  tell  you  when  1  am  ready,  to-morrow,  to 
give  you  the  sequel." 

So  Lucy  went  away  to  find  her  brother  Royal. 

She  thought  it  probable  that  he  was  in  the 
back  yard  or  garden,  but  she  could  not  find  him 
in  either  place.  She  stood  at  the  garden  gate, 
and  called, — 

"  Royal !  Royal !  where  are  you  ?  " 

But  there  was  no  answer. 

"  Joanna,"  said  Lucy,  "  do  you  know  where 
Royal  is  ? " 

For,  just  at  that  moment,  she  saw  Joanna  sit- 
ting at  the  window  of  her  room. 

"  No,"  said  Joanna,  "  I  don't  know ;  but  he 


WHERE    IS    ROYAL  ?  55 

can't  be  far  off,  for  it  is  only  a  few  minutes  since 
I  heard  him  whistle." 

"  Whistle  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Joanna  ;  "  it  sounded  as  if  lie 
was  blowing  some  whistle,  which  he  had  made 
out  of  a  willow." 

"  I  wish  I  could  find  him,"  said  Lucy. 

Just  at  this  moment,  Lucy  heard  a  long-drawn 
and  very  clear  whistle,  which  seemed  to  be  very 
near. 

"  Royal !  "  said  Lucy ;  "  Royal !  is  that  you  t 
Where  are  you  ?  " 

There  was  no  answer,  but  only  a  repetition  of 
the  same  shrill  and  long-protracted  sound. 

Lucy  began  to  look  eagerly  around  the  yard. 

"  Royal !  "  said  she,  "  Royal !  is  that  you  whis- 
tling ? " 

Another  long  whistle. 

"  Ah,  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  know  where 
you  are  ;  you've  hid  somewhere.     I  know  you." 

So  saying,  Lucy  began  to  look  around  the  yard 
in  every  direction,  but  no  Royal  was  to  be  seen. 
She  went  to  the  garden  gate,  and  looked  under 
the  shrubbery,  but  there  was  no  Royal  there. 

At  length  she  paused,  not  knowing  where  to 
look  next ;  and,  after  resting  a  moment,  she  said,  — 

"  Whistle  again,  Royal." 


56  lucy's   studies. 

So  Royal  whistled  again.  The  sound  seemed 
to  come  from  upwards,  and  Lucy  looked  up 
towards  the  house. 

"  Ah,"  said  she,  "  Royal,  I  know  where  you  are. 
You  are  in  the  house,  by  some  of  the  windows. 
I  know  —  you  are  at  mother's  window  —  or  else 
at  Joanna's.     Joanna,  isn't  he  in  your  room  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Joanna. 

"  And  don't  you  know  where  he  is  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Joanna. 

"  Well,  tell  me  then  ;  do,  Joanna.  I'm  tired 
of  looking  for  him." 

Joanna  only  smiled  ;  and  Lucy,  rinding  that  she 
could  get  no  information  from  her,  said  that  she 
knew  Royal  was  in  the  house ;  and  she  ran  in,  and 
went  up  stairs  to  search  the  chambers  which  looked 
out  towards  that  side  of  the  house,  especially  such 
as  had  any  windows  open.  She  looked  in  them 
all  in  vain.  Then  she  went  into  Joanna's  room, 
and  stood  by  her  side,  leaning  her  arms  upon  the 
window  sill,  and  looking  out  the  window. 

"  Royal,"  said  she,  "  I  should  think  you  might 
tell  me  where  you  are." 

Royal  answered  by  calling  out,  C-o-o-p  ;  just 
as  the  children  were  accustomed  to  do,  when 
playing  hide  and  go  seek.  The  direction  of  the 
sound  of  a  voice  is   generally  more    perceptible 


WHERE    IS    ROYAL  ?  59 

than  that  of  a  whistle ;  and  it  was  particularly  so 
in  this  case,  for  Lucy  at  once  perceived  that  the 
sound  came  from  somewhere  in  the  air.  She 
looked  up  in  the  direction  from  which  the  sound 
seemed  to  proceed,  and,  to  her  great  astonishment, 
saw  Royal  comfortably  seated  near  the  top  of  a 
great  oak-tree,  which  stood  in  the  corner  of  the 
yard.    He  was  almost  concealed  by  the  branches. 

"  Why,  Royal !  "  exclaimed  Lucy  ;  "  what  are 
you  doing  there  ?  " 

"  Making  whistles,"  said  Royal. 

"  O  Royal !  "  exclaimed  Lucy  again. 

She  found,  on  examining  more  particularly  his 
position,  that  he  had  placed  a  short  board  across 
from  one  branch  to  another  for  a  seat,  and  that  at 
a  short  distance  below  he  had  placed  another 
board,  which  answered  to  put  his  feet  on.  The 
board  on  which  he  sat  extended  out  a  little  way 
beyond  the  branch  where  it  rested,  and  this  Royal 
used  for  a  sort  of  shelf,  to  put  his  pieces  of  whistle 
wood  upon,  and  his  knife,  when  he  was  not  using 
it.  Two  whistles,  also,  which  he  had  finished, 
were  lying  here.  Royal  was  making  another ; 
and  he  went  on  very  gravely  with  his  work,  while 
Lucy  was  wondering  at  his  position. 

"  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  "  do  you  want  a  whistle  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy. 


60  lucy's  studies. 

"  Come  out,  then,  into  the  yard,  and  I  will 
throw  you  one  down." 

Lucy  accordingly  ran  out,  and  Royal,  taking 
up  one  of  the  whistles,  which  he  had  made,  tossed 
it  out  from  among  the  branches  of  the  tree.  It 
sailed  out  horizontally  through  the  air,  and  then, 
turning  downward,  it  begai.  to  descend  in  that 
beautiful  curve,  which  bodies  projected  from  a 
great  height  always  describe,  and  at  last  it  came 
down  to  the  ground. 

But  it  was  now  some  time  after  sunset,  and  it 
was  not  very  light  in  the  yard.  Lucy  went  to  the 
place  where  the  whistle  had  fallen,  and  looked 
for  it  among  the  grass,  but  she  could  not  find  it. 
However,  Royal  himself  came  down  pretty  soon, 
and,  after  a  little  search,  he  found  it  close  to 
Lucy's  foot.  The  interest  which  Lucy  felt  in  this 
incident  drove  all  thoughts  of  the  lesson  on  win- 
dows from  her  mind ;  and  so  she  did  not  get  the 
sequel  to  the  lesson,  which  her  father  had  prom- 
ised her. 

What  her  father  had  intended  by  the  sequel 
to  the  lesson  was  this  :  He  was  going  to  send 
Lucy  into  one  room,  and  Royal  into  another,  and 
let  each  of  them  examine  a  fireplace,  so  as  to 
observe  its  peculiarities,  and  then  to  come  in  and 
tell  him  what  they  were ;  and  also  to  ask  him  for 


WHERE    IS    ROYAL  ?  61 

the  reason  of  any  thing  they  noticed  about  the 
fireplace,  which  they  did  not  understand. 

They  did  not  do  this,  however,  until  the  next 
day  ;  and  then,  when  they  came  in  from  the  ex- 
amination of  the  fireplace,  Lucy  said  that  she 
observed  one  peculiarity  about  the  fireplace,  and 
that  was,  that  the  back  of  the  chimney  was  black, 
and  that  she  did  not  understand  why  the  fire,  which 
was  red,  should  make  the  bricks  black.  Royal 
said  that  he  observed,  that  there  was  always  a 
mantel  shelf  over  a  fireplace,  and  he  did  not  see 
why  they  always  had  a  mantel  shelf  over  a  fire- 
place, rather  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  room. 

"  But,  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  what  is  a  sequel  ? " 

"  A  sequel  of  any  thing,"  replied  her  father, 
'  is  that  which  comes  in  consequence  of  it.  and 
jiS  the  conclusion  of  it." 

"  I  don't  understand  that  very  well,"  said  Lucy. 

1 '  Never  mind,"  replied  her  father ;  "  I  can't  ex- 
plain it  to  you  any  more  now  " 

So  Lucy  went  away. 
G 


62 


CHAPTER    V 
ACCOUNTS. 

Lucy  had  an  allowance  from  her  father  or  a 
small  sum  of  money  every  week,  which  she  was 
allowed  to  expend  for  herself,  in  any  way  that 
her  father  approved.  Her  father  had  several 
reasons  for  this,  and,  among  the  otheis,  he  thought 
it  would  help  Lucy  to  learn  something  about  ac- 
counts. For  he  said,  when  he  told  her  that  he 
was  going  to  let  her  have  an  allowance,  that  he 
must  make  her  an  account-book  like  Royal's; 
for  Royal  had  had  an  allowance,  and  an  account- 
book  to  keep  an  account  of  it  in,  for  a  long  time. 

"  But,  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  why  need  I  have 
an  account-book  ?  Why  can't  you  give  me  the 
money  every  Saturday  night,  and  let  me  keep  it 
myself?  " 

"  For  several  reasons,"  said  her  father.  "  In  the 
first  place,  I  should  not  always  remember  to  pay 
you  the  money  every  Saturday  night ;  and  then,  in 
the  middle  of  the  next  week,  we  should  not  be  quite 
sure  whether  it  had  been  paid  or  not.     And  so, 


ACCOUNTS.  63 

in  a  short  time,  we  should  get  into  confusion. 
And  then,  besides,  I  am  not  willing  to  let  you 
have  the  money  to  keep  yourself." 

"  Why  not,  sir  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  You  would  be  very  likely  to  lose  it.  You 
would  leave  it  here  and  there  about  the  house, 
as  you  do  your  playthings.  Then,  besides,  if  you 
had  the  charge  and  custody  of  your  money,  you 
would  sometimes,  perhaps,  expend  it  without  my 
approbation." 

"  But  I  should  think  that,  if  the  money  was 
ours,"  said  Royal,  who  was  standing  by  at  this 
time,  "  we  might  expend  it  for  any  thing  we 
chose." 

"  True,"  replied  his  father,  "  but  the  money 
isn't  yours.  I  don't  make  you  an  allowance  of 
so  much  money  every  week,  but  give  you  a  credit, 
to  be  used  on  certain  conditions  ;  and  if  you  take 
it,  you  take  it  subject  to  those  conditions." 

"  What  conditions  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  that  you  use  the  credit  only  for  such 
purposes  as  1  approve.  I  put  down  for  you  a 
certain  sum  for  every  week,  and  then,  when  you 
want  to  buy  any  thing,  you  can  have  it,  if  I  think 
it  is  proper  for  you,  and  if  it  doesn't  come  to 
more  than  your  allowance  amounts  to.  But  in 
the  mean  time  I  must  keep  all  the  money." 


64  lt.cy's  studies. 

Accordingly,  Lucy's  father  made  her  a  small 
account-book,  like  Royal's.  Her  mother  sewed 
it.  It  had  a  cover  of  marble  paper.  The  leaves 
were  made  of  paper,  ruled  with  blue  lines,  and 
her  father  ruled  some  lines  up  and  down  the  page 
of  red  ink.  The  first  line  was  near  the  left-hand 
edge  of  every  page,  and  was  intended  to  mark 
off  a  space  to  put  down  the  day  of  the  month, 
when  any  thing  was  written  in  the  book.  Then 
there  was  another,  near  the  right-hand  edge  of 
every  page,  which  was  for  the  figures  expressing 
the  amount  of  the  money. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  July,  when  Lucy's 
father  made  her  the  account-book.  But  he  said 
he  would  begin  back  as  far  as  to  Lucy's  birthday, 
in  reckoning  the  allowance.  So  he  entered  in 
the  account-book,  first,  an  allowance  for  a  month 
and  a  half,  at  the  top  of  the  second  page.  On 
the  first  page,  he  only  wrote  the  words  Account- 
Book,  in  pretty  large  letters. 

"  Now,"  said  her  father,  "  whenever  you  want 
to  buy  any  thing,  you  can  ask  me  or  your  mother ; 
and  if  we  approve  of  it,  you  can  buy  it,  and  I  shall 
write  down  what  it  is,  and  the  price  of  it,  on  the 
page  opposite  to  the  one  where  your  allowance  is 
entered  ;  and  then  we  can  see,  when  we  open  the 
book,  how  much   your  allowance  comes  to,  by 


ACCOUNTS.  05 

looking  on  one  side,  and  how  many  things  you  have 
bought  with  it.,  by  looking  on  the  other." 

Lucy  was  very  much  pleased  with  her  ac- 
count-book, and  she  put  it  away  very  carefully  in 
her  drawer.  She  determined  to  come  every 
Saturday  evening,  and  have  her  allowance  for  die 
week  regularly  entered. 

When,  however,  her  account-book  was  out  of 
sight,  it  was  out  of  mind ;  and  several  weeks 
passed  away  before  she  thought  of  it  again.  At 
last,  one  day,  as  she  and  Royal  were  looking  over 
her  drawer,  she  found  her  account-book. 

"  There,"  said  she,  "  now  here  is  my  account- 
book,  and  I  haven't  had  any  allowance  for  a  great 
many  weeks.  Father  said  he  would  give  me  an 
allowance  every  week." 

"  You  ought  to  have  carried  him  your  book,  and 
he  would,"  said  Royal. 

';  But  I  forgot  it,"  said  Lucy ;  "  and  now  1 
have  forgotten  how  long  it  is,  and  how  much  the 
allowance  will  make." 

So  saying,  Lucy  was  just  beginning  to  cry. 

"  Why,  Lucy,  you  silly  child,"  said  Royal ; 
'•'  it's  nothing  to  cry  for.  It  will  make  no  dif- 
ference." 

"  Why,  I  haven't  had    my  allowance,"  said 
Lucy,  "  for  a  great  many  weeks  " 
6* 


66  lucy's   studies. 

"  No  matter,"  replied  Royal  ;  "  father  can  put 
it  all  down  together;  it  will  make  no  difference." 
So  Royal  opened  Lucy's  book,  and  explained  to 
Lucy  how  it  would  be. 

"  You  see,"  said  he,  "  that  when  father  put 
down  the  allowance  before,  it  was  July  1 5th.  Now, 
he  can  calculate,  very  easily,  how  many  weeks  it  is 
since  then,  till  now,  and  so  he  can  tell  how  much 
more  allowance  he  must  put  down.  I  can  almost 
calculate  it  myself." 

Lucy  did  not  answer,  but  looked  upon  the 
date  in  her  account-book,  which  Royal  pointed 
at  with  his  finger,  trying  to  understand  how 
it   was. 

"  You  see,"  continued  Royal,  "  that  is  the  ad- 
vantage of  having  an  account-book.  It  keeps  the 
reckoning.  As  soon  as  you  get  an  account-book, 
and  have  the  things  put  down,  you  may  forget  as 
much  as  you  please." 

Lucy  carried  the  account-book  to  her  father 
that  evening ;  and  she  found  that  it  was  as  Royal 
had  predicted.  There  was  no  difficulty  at  all 
in  ascertaining  the  amount  of  the  allowance  due, 
by  calculating  from  the  date  of  the  first  entry. 
Lucy  got  her  father  to  make  the  calculation,  and 
enter  the  amount  due  up  to  that  time  ;  and  then 
she  went  to  put  her  book  away,  with  a  feeling  of 


■ACCOUNTS.  07 

great  relief  and  satisfaction.  She  turned  round, 
however,  after  she  had  gone  a  few  steps  towards 
the  door,  and  said,  — 

"  You  are  not  going  to  let  me  have  the  money, 
I  suppose  ?" 

"  No,"  said  her  father ;  "  I  keep  the  money  for 
you,  — until  you  want  to  buy  something  with  it." 

Nothing  more  was  said  about  Lucy's  account- 
book  for  some  days.  At  length,  however,  one 
evening,  as  Lucy  was  playing  upon  the  cricket 
near  the  sofa,  where  her  father  was  sitting,  she 
came  to  him,  and  said, — 

"  Father,  I  wish  you  would  just  let  me  look  at 
my  money  a  little  while." 

Her  father  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then  put 
his  hand  into  his  pocket,  and  drew  out  several 
pieces  of  silver  money. 

"  Is  that  my  money,"  said  Lucy,  "  or  yours  ?  " 

Her  father  laughed,  but  did  not  answer. 

"  Father,"  said  Lucy  earnestly,  "  is  that  my 
money?  " 

"  Why,  Lucy,"  he  replied,  "  I  don't  Jceep  any 
money  for  you  separate  from  my  own." 

"  O  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  you  said  you  would 
keep  my  money  for  me." 

"  Yes,"  said  her  father,  "  so  I  did  ;  but  I  did 
not  mean  that  I  would  keep  it  separate." 


68  lucy's  studies. 

"  How  do  you  keep  it,  then  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

Her  father  laughed ;  but  Lucy  did  not  know 
what  he  was  laughing  at. 

"  Why,  Lucy,"  said  he,  "  I  keep  your  money, 
just  as  all  bankers  do  the  money  they  have  on 
deposit." 

"  Deposit  ?  "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  her  father.  "  Money  that  is 
placed  in  any  body's  hands  for  safe-keeping  is 
said  to  be  a  deposit.  Your  money  is  deposited 
with  me." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Lucy.  So  far  she  understood 
very  well. 

"  Now,  when  money  is  deposited  with  a  banker, 
he  does  not  keep  that  identical  money  separate 
from  the  rest." 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  identical 
money,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  the  same  money,  —  the  very  same." 

"  And  doesn't  he  keep  the  money,  then,  at  all  ?  }' 

"  jNo,  not  separately  ;  he  mixes  it  with  his  own 
money,  and  pays  it  away,  just  as  he  does  his  own." 

"  1  shouldn't  think  he  ought  to  do  that,"  said 
Lucy,  "if  it  was  deposited  with  him  for  safe- 
keeping." 

"  Why,  '  whenever  the  owner  of  the  money 
comes  to  call  for  it,  instead  of  giving  back  the 


ACCOUNTS.  69 

money,  which  was  deposited,  he  just  gives  him 
the  same  amount  of  his  own  money,  and  that  is  just 
as  good.    One  dollar  is  as  good  as  another  dollar." 

"  O  father !  "  said  Lucy. 

"Why,  isn't  it?  "  said  her  father. 

"  O  no,  sir  ;  some  are  a  great  deal  prettier." 

Here  Lucy's  father  laughed  again  very  heartily, 
and  concluded  that  Lucy  was  rather  too  young 
to  understand  much  about  banking  and  finance. 
However,  he  thought  that  he  would  not  despair 
too  soon.     So  he  proceeded  thus :  — 

"  Yes,  Lucy,  you  are  right ;  one  dollar  may  be 
brighter  and  prettier  than  another  as  a  coin,  to  be 
used  for  a  plaything ;  but  when  I  agreed  to  give 
you  so  much  money  each  month,  I  did  not  mean 
so  many  coins  for  playthings,  but  a  certain  amount 
of  value  for  purchases.  Now,  in  value,  and  for 
use  in  making  purchases,  one  dollar  is  as  good  as 
another  ;  and  so,  in  almost  all  cases  in  reckoning 
accounts  among  men,  they  never  think  at  all  of 
the  particular  money  that  they  receive  and  pay, 
but  only  of  the  value.  When  one  man  borrows 
ten  dollars  of  another  man,  he  does  not  keep 
those  same  dollars  to  pay  back  to  him  again,  but 
only  pays  him  other  dollars  as  good.  And  when 
money  is  deposited  with  a  banker,  he  does  not 
keep  the  same  money,  but  puts  it  with  his  own, 


70  lucy's  studies. 

and  spends  from  it  just  as  if  it  were  his  own  ;  and 
then,  when  the  man  who  deposited  the  money 
wilh  him,  calls  for  it,  he  only  gives  him  an  equal 
amount  of  his  own." 

"  Yes,  father,  I  understand  it  now,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Just  so  with  the  money  of  your  allowance. 
I  dou't  keep  it  separately  from  my  other  money ; 
I  am  only  bound  to  let  you  have  the  amount  in 
value ;  —  so  that  you  see  I  can  never  give  you 
your  money  to  play  with,  but  only  when  you 
want  to  expend  any  of  it,  then  I  must  supply  you 
with  some  of  my  own." 

Lucy  seemed  to  be  pretty  well  satisfied  with 
this  account ;  but  still  she  wished  there  was  some 
way  by  which  she  could  have  some  of  her  money 
lor  a  plaything. 

"  Well,"  said  her  father,  "  we  can  manage  it 
in  this  way.  1  will  give  you  a  piece  of  money, 
and  1  will  set  it  down  in  the  account,  just  as  if 
it  had  been  a  plaything  bought." 

So  Lucy's  father  took  out  several  pieces  of 
money  from  his  purse,  and  let  Lucy  look  them 
uver,  telling  her  that  she  might  take  whichever  she 
mose.  Then  he  entered  the  value  of  this  piece 
of  money  in  Lucy's  account-book,  on  the  page 
opposite  to  the  one  where  the  allowance  was 
entered.     The  account  in  this  book  was  continued 


ACCOUNTS.  71 

a  long  time.  On  one  page  Lucy's  fallier  entered 
her  allowance  from  time  to  time,  whenever  Lucy 
came  to  him  and  wanted  her  accounts  made  up ; 
and  on  the  other  side  he  entered  such  things  as 
she  purchased;  and  this  was  the  way  in  which 
Lucy  got  her  first  regular  ideas  of  money  and 
accounts. 


72 


CHAPTER    VI 

MARY  JAY. 

Besides  Lucy's  studies  at  home,  she  went  to 
$c.  «ccl,  where  she  had  other  studies  to  attend  to. 
Tbc  school  was  a  small  one,  including  the  children 
of  only  one  or  two  families,  and  was  kept  in  a 
room  which  opened  into  a  large  and  beautiful 
garden,  as  is  more  fully  described  in  the  book 
called  Lucy's  Stories.  To  go  to  this  school, 
the  children  went  through  a  gate  on  the  street, 
and  then,  pacing  through  a  green  alley,  they  went 
around  a  corner,  with  trees',  flowers,  and  shubbery 
on  each  side,  to  the  garden,  and  there,  up  stairs, 
was  the  school-room.  There  were  not  many 
children  there.  But,  besides  the  teacher,  there 
was  a  girl  about  fifteen,  whom  the  children  gen- 
erally called  Mary  Jay.  She  could  not  walk  very 
well,  for  she  was  very  lame  ;  but  her  countenance 
had  a  very  mild  and  beautiful  expression,  and  she 
was  always  very  kind  to  the  children.  She  used 
to  read  them  stories  out  of  a  great  book  of  stories, 


MARY    JAY.  73 

which  she  had  written,  and  which  she  called  the 
Morocco  Book. 

The  reason  why  Mary  Jay  went  to  the  school, 
was  because  she  wanted  to  learn  to  be  a  teacher 
herself;  and  all  the  children  thought  that  she 
would  make  a  very  excellent  teacher.  For  she 
often  heard  the  scholars  recite  their  lessons,  and  ex- 
plained their  difficulties  ;  and  the  children  liked  to 
go  to  her  very  much.  She  was  very  gentle  and 
kind,  and  yet  she  always  made  them  obey.  In 
fact,  they  liked  to  obey.  One  day,  when  they  were 
going  home  from  school,  Lucy  said  to  her,  — 

"  When  are  you  going  to  have  a  school  of 
your  own,  Mary  Jay  ?  " 

"  Why?  "  said  Mary  Jay  ;  "  why  do  you  wish 
to  know  ?  " 

"  Because,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  mean  to  come  and 
be  one  of  your  scholars." 

"  Well,"  said  Mary  Jay,  '•'  the  school  which 
we  go  to  now,  isn't  going  to  be  kept  but  two  or 
three  weeks  longer,  and  then  you  may  come  to 
the  house  where  1  live,  and  be  my  scholar." 

"  I  don't  know  where  the  house  is  that  you 
live  in,"  said  Lucy. 

"  You  know  the  road  that  leads  to  the  mill," 
Baid  Mary  Jay. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy. 
7 


74 


LUCY'S    STUDIES. 


"  And  do  you  remember  a  guide-post,  at  the 
foot  of  a  hill,  fastened  to  a  great  tree  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  with  bridge  and  two  mills 
written  on  it." 

"  Two  miles,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  not  mills.  It 
says  that  to  the  bridge  it  is  two  miles.  Did  you 
think  it  was  mills?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Lucy ;  "  I  thought  it  meant  that 
that  road  led  to  a  place  where  there  was  a  bridge 
and  two  mills." 

"  O  no,"  said  Mary  Jay, laughing.  "It  means 
that  it  is  two  miles  to  the  bridge.  The  house  that 
I  live  in,  is  about  a  half  a  mile  along  that  road." 

As  Mary  Jay  said  this,  they  reached  the  place 
where  the  road  to  the  house,  which  Lucy  lived 
in,  turned  away  from  the  road  which  Mary  Jay 
was  to  take.  So  Lucy  bade  her  good  bye ;  and 
Mary  Jay,  after  resting  a  moment  upon  her  crutch, 
looking  at  Lucy  as  she  walked  along,  turned 
away  into  her  own  road,  and  Lucy  saw  her  no 
more 

That  evening,  however,  Lucy  told  her  mother 
what  Mary  Jay  had  said.  Her  mother  inquired 
about  it,  and  found  that  it  was  true  that  the  school 
where  Lucy  had  been  admitted  was  to  be  closed 
in  a  few  weeks,  because  the  family  where  it  had 
been  kept  were  going  away,  and  it  wasn't  to  be 


MARY    JAY.  75 

opened  again  until  the  next  spring.  But  there 
were  to  be  three  more  months  of  pleasant  weather ; 
and  so  Lucy's  mother  went  to  see  Mary  Jay,  and 
made  an  arrangement  with  her  to  take  Lucy  for 
a  scholar. 

Accordingly,  a  few  days  after  this,  Lucy  set  off, 
one  morning,  with  Royal  to  guide  her,  to  go  to 
Mary  Jay's  house,  to  begin  at  her  new  school. 
They  walked  along  very  pleasantly  together, 
Royal  carrying  Lucy's  slate  and  book  for  her,  in 
a  green  satchel.  When  they  came  to  the  guide- 
board,  Lucy  stopped  to  examine  it  more  particu- 
larly.    She  found  it  was  miles,  not  mills. 

"You  might  have  known,"  said  Royal,  "  by- 
there  being  no  and.  If  it  had  meant  two  mills,  it 
would  have  been,  bridge  and  two  mills." 

"  Then  it  means,"  said  Lucy,  "  that  it  is  two 
miles  to  the  bridge  down  this  road." 

"Yes,"  said  Royal. 

"  How  far  is  two  miles  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  O,  it  isn't  very  far,"  said  Royal.  "  I  can  walk 
two  miles  easily  enough." 

"■  I  should  like  to  see  the  bridge,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal.  "  Some  day  we  will 
take  a  walk  down  and  see  it." 

So  Royal  and  Lucy  walked  on.  After  a  time, 
the   road  turned  a  little,  coming  round  a  pretty 


76  lucy's  studies. 

green  hill  covered  with  trees;  and  on  the  other 
side  of  it,  there  came  into  view  a  small  farm-house, 
painted  white,  with  a  garden  on  one  side,  and  a  few 
small  sheds  and  barns  upon  the  other.  Between 
the  house  and  the  garden  there  was  a  little  gate, 
and  a  path  leading  up  to  a  door  in  the  end  of 
the  house ;  and  there  was  quite  a  pleasant  little 
grass  yard  in  front  of  the  door,  with  the  garden 
gate  on  the  opposite  side  of  it. 

"  There,"  said  Royal,  "  that  is  Mary  Jay's 
house." 

"  Is  that  it  ?  "  said  Lucy  ;  "  what  a  pleasant 
house  !  Do  you  think  she  will  let  me  go  in  that 
garden  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Royal,  "  not  she." 

"  Why  not  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  because  you'd  pull  up  the  flowers,  and 
trample  on  the  beds.  They  don't  let  children  go 
in  such  pretty  gardens  as  that." 

"  O  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  shouldn't  trample 
on  the  beds,  I  am  sure.     I  should  be  very  careful." 

"  Well,"  replied  Royal,  "  you'll  see  whether 
she'll  let  you  go  in  her  garden.  But  now  you 
can  find  your  way  to  the  door,  and  I  am  going 
back." 

"  No,  Royal,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  you  must  come  ana 
knock  for  me." 


MARY    JAY.  77 

"  O  no,"  replied  Royal;  "  you  must  knock  for 
yourself." 

"  I  can't  knock  hard  enough,"  said  Lucy; 
"  besides,  I  am  afraid." 

Royal  only  laughed  at  Lucy's  fears,  and  said 
he  only  came  to  show  her  the  way,  and  not  to 
knock  for  her.  But  he  did  wron<r.  He  ou^ht  to 
have  been  willing  to  have  gone  up  to  the  door 
with  her,  since  she  wished  it ;  but  he  would  not. 

He,  however,  finally  consented  to  remain  where 
he  was,  to  watch  and  see  whether  she  got  in 
safely. 

So  Lucy  took  her  satchel  and  walked  along, 
while  Royal  sat  down  upon  a  stone  by  the  road- 
side, to  watch  her  progress. 

There  was  a  little  gate  next  to  the  street, 
which  Lucy  would  have  to  pass  through  in  going 
up  to  the  door.  There  were  two  large  lilac 
bushes  hanging  over  the  gate,  one  on  each  side. 
When  she  came  to  it,  she  found  it  fastened  by  a 
kind  of  wooden  latch  ;  and  at  first  she  did  not 
know  how  to  open  it.  She  turned  around,  and 
beckoned  to  Royal  to  come  and  help  her;  but 
Royal  sat  still.  He  thought  that  she  might  have 
climbed   over,   if  she  couldn't  open  the  gate. 

There  was  another  large  gate  beyond  the 
house,  which  seemed  to  lead  from  the  street  into  a 
7* 


78  lucy's    STUDIES. 

yard,  where  the  little  barns  and  sheds  were  ;  and 
Lucy  had  a  great  mind  to  go  in  there,  for  the 
large  gate  was  open.  But  she  was  afraid  that 
there  might  be  some  cows  in  there ;  and  besides, 
she  did  not  know  that  there  was  any  door  leading 
into  the  house  around  that  way ;  so  she  tried  once 
more  to  open  the  gate.  This  time  she  succeeded  ; 
the  gate  came  open,  and  Lucy,  much  relieved, 
went  through,  and  shut  it  after  her. 

She  walked  along  the  path,  toward  the  door. 
Before  the  door  there  was  a  large  stone  step,  of 
irregular  form,  but  smooth  upon  the  top.  There 
was  a  rose-bush  on  each  side  of  the  step.  One 
of  the  rose-bushes  was  very  large.  There  were 
apple-trees  in  the  garden,  and  Lucy  thought  she 
saw  a  bird's  nest  on  one  of  them. 

Lucy  knocked  gently  and  timidly  at  the  door ; 
but  nobody  heard  her.  Then  she  knocked  again, 
a  little  louder.  She  listened,  and  presently  she 
thought  she  heard  somebody  coming.  A  moment 
after,  the  door  opened,  and  a  little  girl,  who  yet 
seemed  to  be  considerably  older  than  she  was  her- 
self, appeared.  She  smiled  when  she  saw  Lucy, 
as  if  she  knew  her,  but  did  not  speak.  She  opened 
the  door  wide,  and  Lucy  went  in. 

Then  Royal,  who  had  been  all  this  time  sitting 
upon  the  stone  by  the  roadside,  watching  Lucy's 


MART    JA5T.  79 

motions,  as  soon  as  he  saw  that  Lucy  nad  gone 
in,  and  that  the  door  was  shut,  and  that  there  was 
nothing  more  for  him  to  do,  got  up  from  his  seat, 
and  walked  away  towards  home. 

The  girl  who  had  opened  the  door  for  Lucy, 
conducted  her  along  through  a  kind  of  sitting- 
room,  into  a  little  bed-room,  where  Lucy  found 
Mary  Jay  sitting  at  a  window  at  work. 

"  Ah!  Lucy,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  I  am  glad  to 
see  you ;  how  did  you  find  your  way  ?  " 

"  Royal  showed  me,"  said  Lucy. 

"  I  expected  that  Royal  would  show  you  the 
way  ;  but  where  is  he  ?  " 

"  He  did  not  come  quite  here,"  said  Lucy, 
"  but  stopped  out  in  the  road  ;  and  now  I  suppose 
that  he  has  gone  home." 

"  O,  I  am  sorry  that  he  didn't  come  in.  He 
would  have  liked  to  see  our  bird's  nest." 

"  Have  you  got  a  bird's  nest  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  with  three  young 
birds  in  it.  And  there  is  a  little  ladder,  so  that 
we  can  climb  up  very  easily  and  see  it.  But  you 
may  take  off  your  bonnet  and  put  it  away.  You'll 
find  a  nail  to  hang  it  upon  in  that  closet." 

Mary  Jay  pointed  to  a  closet  door,  which  Lucy 
opened,  and  found  there  two  nails,  driven  on  pur- 
pose for  her,  low  enough  for  her  to  reach.     She 


80  lucy's  studies. 

put  her  bonnet  upon  one,  and  hung  her  satchel 
upon  the  other,  after  having  taken  out  her  book 
and  slate.  Then  Lucy  went  back  to  Mary 
Jay. 

"  There,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "look  there,  and  see. 
what  a  table  I  have  prepared  for  you." 

Lucy  looked  where  Mary  Jay  pointed.  There 
were  two  chairs  placed  near  the  window,  with  a 
board  passing  across  from  one  chair  to  the  other. 
The  board  was  pretty  wide,  but  not  very  long. 
It  was  smooth,  and  it  looked  very  new.  One  end 
of  the  board  rested  upon  one  chair,  and  the  other 
end  upon  the  other  chair,  so  that  it  made  a  sort 
of  table.  There  was  a  small  chair  with  a  seat 
made  of  a  kind  of  basket  work,  before  this  table. 
Lucy  knew  at  once  that  this  little  chair  was 
for  her. 

"  Is  that  my  table  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  or  desk ;  you  may 
call  it  your  desk,  if  you  please." 

Lucy  sat  down  at  her  desk,  and  she  said  she 
liked  it  very  much.  She  put  her  book  and  slate 
before  'her,  and  found  that  the  board  was  just 
high  enough  for  her. 

"  Now,"  continued  Mary  Jay,  "  that  will  be 
your  place  to  study  ;  but  the  place  to  keep  your 
books  after  you  have  done  studying  is  on  a  shelf 


MARY    JAY.  81 

in  the  closet.  You  may  go  and  see  if  you  can 
find  it." 

So  Lucy  went  to  the  closet  again.  She  found 
a  small  shelf  there,  pretty  low,  so  that  she  could 
/not  only  reach  it,  to  put  things  on  and  take  them 
off,  but  she  could  see  all  over  it. 

There  was  an  inkstand  upon  this  shelf,  and  a 
ruler  and  a  pencil. 

"  Whose  inkstand,  and  ruler,  and  pencil,  are 
these,  Mary  Jay,  on  my  shelf? "  said  Lucy. 

"  They  are  yours,"  said  Mary  Jay. 

"  I  don't  suppose  I  ought  to  call  you  Mary 
Jay,"  said  Lucy,  "  now  you  are  my  teacher." 

■"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  call  me  by  that 
name,  just  as  you  always  have  done." 

"  Am  I  going  to  write  with  pen  and  ink  ?  " 
said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Jay. 

"  But  I  don't  know  how  to  write  with  pen  and 
ink,"  said  Lucy. 

"  That's  the  very  reason  why  I  got  them  for 
you,  so  that  you  might  learn.  Children  don'l 
come  to  school  to  do  what  they  know  how  to  do 
already." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy. 

So  Lucy  came  away  from  her  closet,  and  sat 
down  before  her  desk. 


82  LUCY'S    STUDIES. 

"  What  am  I  going  to  learn  first  ?  " 

"  Why,  the  first  thing  1  want  you  to  leam,  13 
to  go  alone  a  little." 

"  To  go  alone  ?  "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mary  Jay,  "  intellectually." 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  that,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  Why,  you  know,  when  children  are  very  little, 
they  cannot  walk  at  all  without  somebody  to  take 
hold  of  their  hands  and  lead  them.  After  awhile, 
they  learn  to  go  alone.  Now,  when  they  first  come 
to  school,  it  is  just  so  with  their  progress  in  study. 
They  can't  go  alone  at  all.  The  teacher  has  to 
lead  them  all  the  way.  After  a  time,  they  get 
along  a  little  way,  so  that  they  can  study  by 
themselves  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  or  half  an  hour, 
and,  by  and  by,  an  hour,  without  any  help ;  and 
this  is  what  I  call  going  alone.  Now,  when  a 
scholar  gets  so  as  to  go  alone  a  little  in  her  studies, 
it  is  a  great  deal  easier  to  teach  her. 

"  Now,"  continued  Mary  Jay,  "  my  plan  is  for 
you  to  study  half  an  hour  by  yourself,  if  I  can 
only  contrive  lessons  which  you  can  understand 
without  help  for  so  long  a  time  ;  and  that  is  what 
I  call  going  alone." 

"Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  will  try." 

"  Now,"  added  Mary  Jay,  "  your  first  lesson 


MARY    JAY.  83 

shall  be  to  make  figures  on  your  slate.  I  will  set 
you  a  copy." 

So  Mary  Jay  took  Lucy's  slate,  and,  with  the 
ruler  and  the  slate  pencil,  she  ruled  a  line  along  the 
top  of  it,  and  then  made  a  number  of  figures,  very 
neatly  and  carefully,  for  Lucy  to  copy.  She  told 
Lucy  to  take  the  ruler,  and  sit  down  at  her  desk, 
and  rule  another  line,  and  then  to  make  some 
figures  exactly  like  the  copy,  and  then  to  rule 
another  line,  and  so  on  down  the  slate. 

"  I  want  to  see,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  if  you  can 
keep  3rourself  busy  doing  that,  without  saying 
a  word  to  me,  for  half  an  hour.  That  will  be 
going  alone.  When  the  half-hour  is  out,  I  will 
let  you  have  a  recess." 

Lucy  tried,  but  she  did  not  succeed  very  well. 
She  could  not  rule  her  lines  straight,  and  she 
wanted  to  come  and  show  them  to  Mary  Jay. 
Then,  whenever  she  made  a  bad  figure,  she  would 
sigh,  and  exclaim,  "  O  dear  me  !  how  hard  it  is  !  " 
If  she  made  a  good  figure,  she  wanted  to  jump  up, 
and  come  and  show  it  to  Mary  Jay.  When  the 
time  was  about  half  out,  she  was  very  thirsty,  and 
she  wanted  Mary  Jay  to  go  out  and  get  her  a  drink 
of  water.  In  reply  to  all  her  questions  and  com- 
plaints, Mary  Jay  always  told  her  to  wait  until 
the  half-hour  was  out,  and  she  would  attend  to 


84  lucy's  studies. 

her.  Even  for  the  drink  of  water,  she  told  her 
that  she  must  wait  until  the  recess. 

When  the  time  which  Mary  Jay  had  assigned 
to  Lucy  had  expired,  she  said  to  her,  — 

"  Now,  Lucy,  it  is  time  for  recess.  So  you 
may  leave  your  slate  upon  the  desk,  and  go  out 
and  play  a  little  while." 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  only  may  1  first  come 
and  show  you  what  I  have  done  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  not  till  after  the 
recess." 

"  Then  shall  I  go  and  put  my  slate  away  first, 
upon  my  shelf?  " 

"  No,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  not  till  after  recess. 
When  you  get  any  directions  from  your  teacher, 
you  must  obey  them  exactly." 

"  Where  shall  I  go  to  play  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  you  may  go  out  into  the  yard  and  garden, 
and  see  what  you  can  find  to  amuse  yourself 
with  " 


85 


CHAPTER    VII  . 

THE   RECESS. 

Lucy  went  out  through  the  room  by  which 
she  had  entered,  and  came  to  the  door,  where  she 
had  knocked  when  she  came  to  the  house.  The 
door  was  open,  and  she  walked  out.  She  stood 
a  few  minutes  upon  the  great,  flat  stone,  which 
served  for  a  step,  considering  which  way  she 
should  go. 

Just  then,  she  recollected  that  she  was  thirsty ; 
and  so  she  went  back  and  asked  Mary  Jay  how 
she  should  get  a  drink. 

Mary  Jay  told  her  to  go  and  look  under  her 
shelf  in  her  closet.  Lucy  went,  and  she  found 
a  little  tin  mug  hanging  there  upon  a  nail ;  for 
Mary  Jay,  like  all  good  teachers,  had  taken  pains 
to  consider  beforehand  what  would  be  necessary 
for  her  little  pupil,  and  had  provided  for  every 
thing,  so  as  to  prevent  delay  and  trouble  after- 
wards. This  is  always  the  best  way  in  teaching, 
as  well  as  in  every  thing  else. 

"  Now,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  take  that  mug,  and 
8 


86  lucy's  studies. 

go  out  in  the  yard,  and  around  behind  the  bouse, 
and  you  will  see  a  small  gate.  Go  through  that 
gate,  and  you  will  see  a  little  building  with  wood- 
bine growing  all  over  it.  There  you  can  get  a 
drink." 

"  How  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  you'll  see  when  you  get  there,"  said  Mary 
Jay. 

So  Lucy  took  her  mug  and  walked  along. 
She  found  the  gate  very  easily.  It  was  small 
and  easy  to  open.  When  Lucy  had  passed 
through,  it  shut  of  its  own  accord. 

She  found  herself  in  a  pretty,  green  yard,  next 
to  the  backside  of  the  house  ;  and  in  the  corner  of 
this  yard  was  the  little  building  which  Mary  Jay 
had  referred  to.  It  was  small ;  it  had  a  roof  and 
sides,  but  the  front  was  open.  It  was  almost 
covered  and  enveloped  with  woodbine.  There 
was  no  floor,  but  there  came  up  out  of  the  ground, 
inside  of  the  building,  a  small  red  post,  with  a 
little  stream  of  water  spouting  out  from  it.  Lucy 
went  immediately  to  it,  to  see  what  it  was. 

There  was  a  large,  square  board  upon  the 
ground  before  the  post,  which  looked  like  the 
cover  of  a  box,  bjuried  in  the  ground.  The 
water  from  the  post  fell  into  a  place  just  behind 
this  box.     She  took  hold  of  the  edge  of  the  board, 


THE    RECESS.  87 

to  see  if  it  would  lift  up  like  a  cover.  She  want- 
ed to  see  where  the  water  went  to. 

She  found  that  the  board  would  lift  up  like  the 
cover  of  a  box ;  and  under  it  there  was  a  small, 
square  cistern,  full  of  water.  Lucy  put  the  cover 
down  again  immediately,  partly  because  she  was 
afraid  that  she  might  fall  in,  and  partly  because 
she  happened  to  recollect  that  it  was  not  right  for 
her  to  open  the  cistern  without  leave. 

Then  Lucy  held  her  mug  under  the  stream  of 
water  which  spouted  out  from  the  post,  until  the 
mug  was  full.  Then  she  had  a  good  drink. 
She  afterwards  held  her  mug  under,  and  let  it 
fill  several  times,  pouring  the  water  down  upon 
the  grass.  When  the  water  first  struck  upon  the 
bottom  of  the  mug,  it  made  a  sort  of  a  drumming 
sound,  which  was  gradually  deadened  as  the  bot- 
tom became  covered  with  water.  Then  Lucy 
would  watch  the  surface  of  the  water  as  it  rose 
slowly,  until  at  length  it  would  run  over  in 
streams,  and  fall  into  the  cistern  below. 

While  Lucy  was  sitting  here,  a  door  which  led 
into  the  back  part  of  the  house,  opened,  and  a 
girl  came  out,  swinging  a  pail  back  and  forth  in 
her  hand.  The  girl  advanced  towards  the  place 
where  Lucy  was,  by  a  path  which  was  well 
trodden.     When   she   reached    the    cistern,   she 


88  lucy's  studies. 

lifted  up  the  cover;  and  then,  dipping  the  pail  in, 
she  took  up  a  pail  full  of  water,  and  then  shut 
the  cover  down. 

"  Well,  Lucy,"  said  she,  "  how  do  you  like  the 
aqueduct  ? " 

"  Is  this  an  aqueduct  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  she ;  "  here  is  where  we  get  all 
our  water." 

"  Why  don't  you  hold  your  pail  under,  and 
catch  the  spouting  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"Because,"  said  the  girl,  "I  can't  wait  long 
enough  for  it.  So  we  have  a  cistern,  which  keeps 
always  full,  and  we  can  dip  it  out  of  that." 

So  saying,  the  girl  went  away  towards  the 
house,  carrying  the  pail  upon  one  side,  and  lean- 
ing her  head  and  arm  away  over  to  the  other. 
Lucy  then  thought  that  she  would  go  and  look 
around  the  yard,  and  see  what  else  she  could  find. 

She  walked  along  towards  the  garden  gate. 
"  I  knew,"  she  said  to  herself,  "  that  Mary  Jay 
would  let  me  go  in  her  garden,  though  Royal 
said  she  would  not." 

She  opened  the  gate,  and  walked  in.  She 
found  many  rows  of  corn,  and  beans,  and  other 
garden  vegetables,  but  not  many  flowers.  In  the 
back  corner  were  some  large  sunflowers,  witli 
great  bumble-bees  in  them ;  and  there  were  two 


THE    RECESS.  89 

or  three  apple-trees,  with  a  great  many  apples 
growing  on  the  branches.  Some  were  red,  and 
some  were  of  a  russet-brown. 

Lucy  liked  the  garden  very  much ;  but  she 
began  soon  to  think  that  it  was  time  for  her  to  go 
in.  So  she  turned  around,  and  began  to  walk 
back  towards  the  garden  gate.  She  was  walking 
now  in  a  path  along  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
garden  from  that  in  which  she  came  in,  and  look- 
ing at  some  large  gourds,  which  were  growing  by 
the  side  of  it,  when  suddenly  she  heard  a  great 
buzzing  near  her.  She  looked  up,  and  saw  that 
there  was  a  hive  of  bees  under  a  little  shed,  by 
the  side  of  the  walk  close  before  her. 

Lucy  was  afraid  to  go  by  the  bees,  and  so  she 
turned  back  to  go  around  some  other  way. 

She  found  that  she  had  to  go  quite  to  the  back- 
side of  the  garden,  before  she  could  get  into 
another  path,  which  would  lead  towards  the  gate. 
Here,  just  as  she  passed  the  end  of  a  row  of  cur- 
rant-bushes, her  attention  was  attracted  by  a 
stile,  or  set  of  steps,  made  of  boards,  which 
was  made  to  get  over  the  fence  by.  Lucy 
thought  that  she  would  climb  up  upon  the  stile, 
and  look  over,  and  see  what  there  was  upon 
the  other   side. 

She  found  that  she  could  mount  very  easily ; 
8# 


90  lucy's  studies. 

and,  when  she  got  up  to  the  highest  step  but 
one,  she  could  see  over  into  the  field  beyond 
It  was  a  very  pleasant  place,  and  Lucy  wished 
very  much  that  she  could  go  over.  There  was  a 
path  well  beaten,  which  led  down  a  gentle  de- 
scent, until  it  turned  around  the  point  of  a  rocky 
precipice,  a<nd  disappeared  among  the  trees.  Lucy 
wished  very  much  that  she  knew  where  the  path 
led  to.  She  thought  that  she  could  see  something 
down  among  the  trees,  glimmering  like  light,  re- 
fleeted  from  water. 

But  Lucy  then  thought  that  it  was  quite  time 
for  her  to  go  Sn ;  and  so  she  got  down  from  the 
stile,  and  walked  along  towards  the  gate.  By 
the  route  which  she  was  now  taking,  she  was  led 
away  from  the  bees,  so  that  she  reached  the  gate 
without  any  difficulty.  Then  she  went  in  and 
took  her  place  at  her  desk  again. 

That  evening,  when  she  went  home,  Royal 
asked  her  how  she  liked  her  school. 

«  Very  much,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  only  there  are  no 
other  children  for  me  to  play  with." 

"True,"  said  Royal;  "but  you  don't  go  to 
school  to  play,  and  so  that  is  no  hardship." 

"  Yes,  it  is  a  hardship,"  said  Lucy,  "  for  I  have 
a  recess,  and  I  want  somebody  to  play  with  me 
in  the  recess." 


THE    RECESS.  91 

"  A  recess ! "  said  Royal  — ■ "  a  recess  for  only 
one  scholar ! " 

"  I  had  a  recess,"  said  Lucy,  "  and  an  excel- 
lent recess  too,  and  you  don't  know  what  I  saw." 

"  What  was  it?"  rejoined  Royal. 

"  A  post,"  said  Lucy,  "  with  water  spouting 
out  of  it." 

"  It  was  a  pump,  I  suppose,"  replied  Royal, 
"  and  the  water  spouted  out  when  you  pumped." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  it  was  only  a  short  post 
about  so  high."  Here  Lucy  held  her  hand  out, 
about  two  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ground,  to 
show  Royal  how  high  the  post  was. 

"  Why,  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  "  water  couldn't 
spout  out  of  a  pump  unless  there  was  something 
to  make  it." 

"  Yes  it  could,"  said  Lucy ;  "  I  saw  it.  It  was 
nothing  but  a  red  post  so  high." 

Here  Lucy  held  out  her  hand  again,  to  indi- 
cate to  Royal  the  height  of  the  post. 

"  And  what  do  you  suppose  made  the  water 
come  out  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Lucy ;  "  only  I  know  that 
there  was  nothing  there  but  a  post,  for  I  saw 
it  myself.  The  water  came  up  out  of  a  box  in 
the  ground." 

"  How  do  you  know?  "  said  Royal. 


92  lucy's  studies. 

"  Why,  I  saw  it,"  replied  Lucy.  "  I  lifted  up 
the  cover  of  the  box,  and  looked  in,  and  it  was 
full  of  water.  I  mean  to  ask  my  father  to  buy 
such  a  post,  and  put  it  in  our  yard." 

"  O  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  with  a  laugh,  "  it 
couldn't  be — not  unless  there  was  a  lead  pipe, 
or  something  to  come  along  under  the  ground,  for 
the  water  to  run  in." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  there  wasn't  any  lead 
pipe  ;  it  was  nothing  but  a  post.     I  saw  it  myself." 

"  There  must  be  a  lead  pipe,"  said  Royal,  very 
positively,  "  under  the  ground,  or  else  the  water 
wouldn't  spout  up." 

Lucy  paused  a  moment,  considering  whether 
what  Royal  said  could  be  true ;'  but  at  length  she 
added, — 

"  Why,  Royal,  there  couldn't  be  any  lead  pipe 
in  the  ground,  because,  if  there  was,  they  would 
have  dug  up  the  grass  around  there,  when  they 
put  it  down.  But  the  ground  was  not  dug  up 
at  all.  It  was  smooth  and  grassed  all  over  the 
yard." 

Lucy  was  wrong.  She  ought  not  to  have 
been  so  positive.  It  is  very  unsafe  for  children 
to  be  positive,  in  saying  what  is  and  what  is  not 
possible.  And  Royal  was  wrong  too.  He  might 
safely  have  said,  that  he  presumed  that  there  was 


THE    RECESS.  93 

a  lead  pipe  under  the  ground ;  but  he  ought  not  to 
have  been  so  positive  of  what  he  had  no  means 
of  certainly  knowing. 

The  question  was  not  settled  until  Lucy  went 
to  school  the  next  day.  She  then  asked  Mary 
Jay  about  it. 

"  There  is  a  wooden  pipe,  under  the  ground," 
said  Mary  Jay. 

"  A  wooden  pipe  ? "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  a  pipe  made  of 
wooden  logs,  with  holes  bored  through  them, 
from  end  to  end.  Then  these  logs  are  put  to- 
gether under  the  ground,  and  thus  they  make  a 
long  wooden  pipe,  and  the  water  comes  through 
that." 

"  Where  does  it  come  from  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  It  comes  from  a  spring,  on  a  hill  behind  the 
house.  The  spring  is  pretty  high,  and  so  the 
water  runs  down  until  it  gets  to  the  post,  and 
then,  as  it  cannot  get  any  farther,  it  spouts  out 
into  the  air." 

"  I  thought  it  came  from  the  box  of  watei 
underneath,"  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  Mary  Jay ;  "  the  water  in  the  cis- 
tern comes  out  of  the  post ;  it  does  not  go  into  it. 
The  water  spouts  out  from  the  post,  and  keeps 
the  cistern  full." 


94 


LUCY'S    STUDIES. 


"  And  where  does  the  rest  of  the  water  go  to  ? " 
said  Lucy. 

"It  flows  along  through  another  pipe,  undei 
ground,  into  a  trough  in  the  barn-yard,  where  the 
cows  go  to  drink." 

Lucy  paused  a  moment,  reflecting  upon  what 
she  had  heard  ;'  and  then  she  said,  — 

"  But,  Mary  Jay,  how  could  they  put  the  great 
logs  in  the  ground,  without  digging  up  all  the 
grass  in  the  yard  ? " 

"  They  did  dig  it  up,"-  said  Mary  Jay,  "  I 
suppose,  when  they  put  the  logs  down  ;  but  that 
was  several  years  ago,  and  the  grass  has  grown 
up  since." 

"  O,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  didn't  think  of  that." 

Lucy  paused  again  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
she  drew  a  long  breath,  and  said,  — 

"  Well,  —  I  knew  the  water  didn't  come  in  a 
leaden  pipe,  at  any  rate,  and  I  told  Royal  so." 


95 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

MARY  JAY'S  INSTRUCTIONS. 

After  Lucy  had  been  several  days  in  Mary 
Jay's  school,  and  had  learned  to  work  quietly  by 
herself,  for  half  an  hour  at  a  time,  Mary  Jay  said, 
one  day,  that  she  would  go  and  take  a  walk  with 
her  in  the  recess. 

"  Well,"  said  Lucy,  "  and  I  wish  you  would 
go  down  behind  the  garden,  by  the  great  rock, 
and  show  me  where  that  path  leads  to." 

Mary  Jay  assented  to  this  proposal,  and  they 
set  out  together.  Lucy  clambered  over  the  stile 
without  any  trouble,  and  Mary  Jay  herself  got 
over  much  more  easily  than  Lucy  had  supposed 
possible.  In  fact,  although  Mary  Jay  appeared 
to  be  very  lame  in  walking,  yet  she  could  walk 
without  any  pain,  and  without  much  inconveni- 
ence to  herself.  The  difficulty  was  rather  ap- 
parent than  real. 

Lucy  was  surprised,  therefore,  to  see  how 
readily  Mary  Jay  mounted  the  steps  of  the  stile, 
and  descended  on  the  other  side. 


96  lucy's  studies. 

"  1  believe  1  will  leave  one  of  my  cruiehes 
here/'  said  she  to  Lucy,  "  and  then  1  can  take 
hold  of  your  hand." 

So  she  led  Lucy  with  one  of  her  hands,  wiiile 
she  managed  the  remaining  crutch  with  the  other  : 
and  thus  they  walked  along  the  path  which  led 
towards  the  rocky  precipice. 

"  Now,  Lucy,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  I  will  tell 
you  of  some  of  the  difficulties  which  children 
meet  with  in  school.  There  are  three  things, 
which  it  belongs  to  a  good  scholar  to  do,  which 
are  rather  hard." 

-'  What  are  they  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  To  continue  to  study  after  you  have  got  tired 
of  study,  to  try  to  do  what  you  think  you  can't 
do,  and  to  obey  orders  when  you  think  they  are 
wrong." 

"  When  they  are  wrong  ? "  replied  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mary  Jay.  "  It  is  pretty  easy 
to  obey  when  you  think  the  orders  are  right ;  the 
difficulty  comes  when  you  think  the  orders  are 
wrong.  For  example,  there  was  a  boy  once,  and 
his  name  was  Thomas.  He  used  to  hold  his  slate 
pencil  just  as  we  commonly  hold  a  pen.  The 
teacher  told  him  that  that  wasn't  right.  She 
showed  him  how  a  slate  pencil  ought  to  be  held, 
and  then  she  went  away  and  left  Thomas  at  his 


MARY  jay's  instructions.  97 

work.  He  tried  the  teacher's  way,  and  said  to 
himself,  '  This  isn't  half  as  good  a  way  as  mine. 
I  can't  make  the  figures  half  as  well.'  Then  he 
changed  his  pencil,  and  held  it  just  as  he  had 
done  it  before,  that  is,  as  a  pen  is  held." 

"  How  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  I  will  show  you,"  said  Mary  Jay.  Then  she 
looked  about  upon  the  ground,  and  found  a  little 
sprig,  which  would  answer  to  represent  a  pen, 
and  she  placed  it  between  the  fingers  of  her  right 
hand,  leaning  upon  her  crutch  while  she  did  it,  — - 
and  thus  showed  Lucy  how  a  pen  ought  to  be 
held. 

"  And  now,"  said  Lucy,  "  show  me  how  the 
teacher  told  him  to  hold  it." 

So  Mary  Jay  broke  off  a  short  piece  of  the 
sprig,  which  was  of  suitable  length  to  represent  a 
slate  pencil,  and  she  placed  that  between  her 
fingers,  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  how  a  slate 
pencil  ought  to  be  held. 

"  Now,  Thomas,"  she  continued,  "  when  he 
found  that  he  could  not  work  so  conveniently  by 
holding  the  pencil  in  the  way  that  the  teacher  had 
directed  him  to  hold  it,  concluded  that  she  must 
have  been  wrong,  and  so  he  returned  to  his  old 
method." 

"  Method  ? "  said  Lucy,  "  what  is  that  ?  " 


98  lucy's  studies. 

"  The  way,  —  his  old  way  of  holding  it,"  re 
plied  Mary  Jay. 

"  And  what  did  the  teacher  say  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  when  the  teacher  came  there  again," 
said  Mary  Jay,  "  she  found  him  disobeying  her. 
She  said,  '  Why,  Thomas,  I  told  you  not  to  hold 
the  pencil  so.' 

"  '  Yes,'  said  Thomas,  '  I  tried  the  other  way, 
but  I  found  that  I  couldn't  make  my  figures  so 
well.' " 

Here  Mary  Jay  paused  a  moment ;  but  Lucy 
did  not  say  any  thing,  and  so  she  proceeded. 

"  Thomas  thought,"  said  she,  "  that  he  was  not 
bound  to  obey  his  teacher,  unless  he  thought  that 
her  directions  were  right.  But  the  truth  is,  that 
children  ought  to  obey  their  parents  and  teachers 
always ;  no  matter  whether  they  think  the  com- 
mands are  right  and  reasonable,  or  not.  It  is 
very  easy  to  obey,  when  you  see  that  the  com- 
mand is  right  and  reasonable ;  but  when  you  do 
not  understand  why  the  command  is  given,  or 
when  it  seems  unreasonable  or  wrong,  then  comes 
the  trial." 

"I  shouldn't  think,"  said  Lucy,  "that  the 
teacher  would  want  him  to  make  the  figures  the 
hardest  way." 

"  No,"  said  Mary  Jay ;  "  the  truth  was  this  • 


MARY    JAY'S    INSTRUCTIONS.  101 

Thomas's  way  was  the  hardest,  and  the  teacher's 
the  easiest ;  only  Thomas  had  become  so  accus- 
tomed to  his  method,  that  he  couldn't  at  once  do 
quite  so  well  in  the  other.  There  are  a  great 
many  things,  which  children  have  to  do,  that  can 
be  done  most  easily  in  one  particular  way,  when 
they  are  once  accustomed  to  that  way.  But 
before  they  are  accustomed  to  it,  it  may  perhaps 
be  harder  than  some  other  way,  which  they  are 
familiar  with.  Children  are  often  told  to  hold 
their  pens,  or  their  knife  and  fork,  or  spoon,  at 
table,  in  a  way  which  seems  to  them  inconveni- 
ent and  troublesome ;  and  so  they  think  the  com- 
mand is  unreasonable  and  wrong.  They  think 
their  parent  or  teacher  is  mistaken,  and  so  they 
don't  obey.  But  if  they  would  obey,  they  would 
soon  become  accustomed  to  the  proper  way,  and 
then  they  would  find  it  altogether  better  than  their 
old  habit.  That's  the  philosophy  of  it,  Lucy ; 
that's  the  philosophy  of  it." 

At  this  time,  they  had  reached  the  rocky  pre- 
cipice, and  the  path  passed  around  near  the  foot 
of  it.  Lucy  looked  up  at  the  rocks,  and  was  a 
little  afraid  that  they  would  fall  down  upon  her 
head.  Mary  Jay  said,  that  she  had  seen  boys 
climb  up  nearly  to  the  top.  From  this  place,  the 
path  passed  along  among  some  trees,  and  Lucy 
9* 


102  lucy's  studies. 

and  Mary  Jay  went  on ;  and,  as  they  walked, 
Mary  Jay  resumed  the  conversation. 

"Then  there  is  another  thing,"  she  added, 
*'  which  I  mentioned  —  being  willing  to  try  to  do 
what  you  think  you  can't  do,  or  what  you  can't 
do  very  well.  Once,  when  I  was  at  a  school, 
there  was  a  girl  that  sat  next  to  me,  and  her 
name  was  Sarah.  The  teacher  was  choosing  a 
copy  for  her  to  write.  He  had  several  in  his 
hands,  and  he  save  her  one  that  had  some  figures 
at  the  end  of  it.  Sarah  looked  at  it,  and  then 
carried  it  back  to  the  teacher's  desk,  and  asked 
him  if  he  would  be  kind  enough  to  give  her 
another  copy,  for  that  one  had  figures  at  the  end 
of  it. 

"  '  Well,'  said  the  teacher,  '  and  why  is  that  an 
objection  ? ' 

"  '  Why,  I  can't  make  figures  very  well,'  re- 
plied Sarah. 

"  c  Can't  you  ? '  said  the  teacher. 

" '  No,'  said  Sarah,  '  and  so  I  should  like  to 
have  a  copy  that  hasn't  got  any  figures  in  it.' 

"  The  teacher  then  began  to  look  over  his  copies, 
and  Sarah  supposed  that  he  was  endeavoring  to 
find  one  which  had  no  figures  in  it.  While  he 
was  doing  this,  she  said,  — 

"  '  I  think  Lucy  Dane  would  like  that  copy 


MARY    JAY'S    INSTRUCTIONS.  103 

very  well,  for  she  can  make  figures  beauti- 
fully.'  " 

"Lucy  Dane?"  said  Lucy;  "was  her  name 
Lucy  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Jay. 

"  That's  the  same  as  my  name,"  added  Lucy. 

"  Presently,"  continued  Mary  Jay, "  the  teacher 
took  out  a  copy,  which  was  all  figures  from  the 
beginning  of  the  line  to  the  end,  and  handed  it  to 
Sarah. 

" '  There,'  said  he,  '  I  am  glad  you  told  me 
that  you  can't  make  figures  very  well,  for  I  want 
to  have  you  learn ;  so  I'll  give  you  copies  of 
figures  altogether,  for  a  while.  And  as  for  Lucy 
Dane,  I  will  be  careful  not  to  give  her  any  more 
copies  with  figures  in  them,  if  she  can  make 
figures  beautifully  already.' " 

"  Why,  Mary  Jay ! "  said  Lucy.  She  was 
quite  surprised  at  this  decision  of  the  teacher. 

"  Children  very  often,"  continued  Mary  Jay,' 
"make  objections  to  do  what  their  teacher  re- 
quires, because  they  say  they  can't  do  it.  They 
forget  that  this  is  the  very  reason  why  they 
should  set  to  work  and  learn.  You  don't  go  to 
school  to  do  over  again  what  you  can  already  do 
very  well,  but  to  learn  to  do  things  which  you 
can't  do  when  you  go. 


104  lucy's  studies. 

"  There  was  another  girl  in  the  same  school," 
continued  Mary  Jay ;  "  and  one  day,  when  the 
teacher  told  us  that  we  must  write  every  other 
page  in  our  writing  books  without  ruling,  in  order 
that  we  might  learn  to  write  straight  without  lines 
to  guide  us,  she  said  that  she  couldn't  write  at  all 
without  ruling. 

"  '  Can't  you  ? '  said  the  teacher ;  '  then  you'll 
have  to  write  every  page  so,  instead  of  every 
other,  until  you  learn  a  little  ;  and  when  you  get 
so  as  to  write  tolerably  straight,  then  it  will  not 
be  necessary  for  you  to  write  so  much  without  a 
guide.'  " 

"  What  was  her  name  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

But  Mary  Jay  did  not  have  time  to  answer 
this  question,  for  Lucy  had  hardly  spoken  the 
words,  when  her  eye  caught  a  view  of  quite  a 
little  sheet  of  water  before  her,  under  the  trees. 
So  she  left  Mary  Jay,  and  ran  on  towards  it. 

It  was  a  broad  and  shallow  sheet  of  wa- 
ter, made  by  the  expansion  of  a  brook,  which 
flowed  here  over  smooth,  yellow  sands.  A  little 
below  where  they  stood,  the  surface  of  the  water 
was  contracted,  and  the  brook  flowed  over  gravel 
and  small  stones,  with  a  rapid  motion,  and  finally 
fell  down  some  rocks,  making  quite  a  little  water- 


MARY    JAY'S    INSTRUCTIONS.  105 

fall.  Large  trees  overhung  the  whole  scene,  and 
made  it  shady  and  cool. 

"  Now,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  I  will  show  you  my 
seat." 

So  she  led  Lucy  along  up  a  bank,  by  a  narrow 
path,  until  she  came  to  a  place  where  were  some 
rocks,  which  were,  like  the  water,  overhung  with 
trees.  Here  there  was  placed  a  long,  flat  stone, 
in  front  of  a  sort  of  wall  or  precipice  of  rock,  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  stone  made  a  very  good 
seat,  and  the  rock  behind  it,  which  was  smooth 
and  inclined  backwards  a  little,  made  a  very  good 
back  to  lean  upon. 

"  Is  this  your  seat  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Jay. 

"  Who  made  it  for  you  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  I  made  it  myself,"  said  Mary  Jay. 

"  Why,  did  you  lift  this  great  stone  ? "  said 
Lucy,  putting  her  hand  down  upon  the  stone  seat. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Jay. 

"  I  shouldn't  think  that  you  could  lift  such  a 
great,  heavy  stone,"  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  replied  Mary  Jay,  "  I  couldn't  have 
lifted  it  exactly.     I  pried  it  along." 

"  How  did  you  do  it  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Why,  I  saw  the  stone  lying  a  little  way  off, 
half  in  the  ground,  and  I  went,  one  day,  and  got 


106  lucy's  studies. 

my  little  hoe,  which  my  father  bought  for  me 
whpn  I  was  about  as  large  as  you  are,  to  hoe  my 
garden  with ;  and  with  that  I  dug  the  stone  out. 
Then  I  brought  down  a  little  iron  bar,  and  pried 
it  up.  My  sister  put  stones  under  to  keep  it 
from  falling  back  again  into  its  old  place.  At 
last  I  got  it  up  so  high,  that  she  could  put  a  pole 
under ;  and  at  length  we  got  it  entirely  out  of  its 
hole.  Then  we  pried  it  along,  one  end  at  a 
time ;  and  finally  we  got  it  in  its  place,  and  I 
pried  it  up,  and  my  sister  put  the  stones  under 
which  keep  it  up." 

Then  Lucy  looked  under  the  seat,  and  found 
that  at  each  end  there  were  several  flat  stones, 
one  over  the  other,  forming  a  little  pile ;  and  the 
stone  seat  rested  upon  them. 

"  But,  Mary  Jay,"  said  Lucy,  "  why  didn't 
you  get  your  father  to  come  and  do  it  for  you  ?  " 

"  Because,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  my  father  is 
always  busy  at  his  work ;  and,  besides,  I  knew 
that  I  should  enjoy  my  seat  a  great  deal  more,  to 
do  it  all  myself." 

"  But  then  your  sister  helped  you,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mary  Jay,  "  my  sister  helped 
me;  and  she  and  I  own  the  seat  together.  I 
come  down  here  sometimes  to  read." 

"  I  wish,"  said  Lucy,  "  that  you  would  let  me 


MARY   JAY'S    INSTRUCTIONS.  107 

come  down  here  sometimes,  and  study  my  les- 
son." 

"  Well,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  when  you  get  so 
that  you  can  go  alone,  1  will.  If  you  are  down 
here,  there  wiU  be  nobody  to  watch  you,  or  help 
you  when  you  are  in  difficulty,  so  that  it  will  be 
of  no  use  for  you  to  come  until  you  can  go  alone.'* 

After  this,  Lucy  and  Mary  Jay  walked  slowly 
back  to  the  house. 


108 


CHAPTER    IX. 
JUST   SAVED. 

One  morning,  when  Lucy  was  seated  at  her 
desk,  in  Mary  Jay's  room,  the  little  girl  that 
opened  the  door  for  her,  the  first  day  of  her  com- 
ing to  school,  came  in  and  told  Mary  Jay  that 
there  was  a  young  gentleman  at  the  door  who 
wanted  to  see  Lucy. 

"  A  young  gentleman  !  "  said  Lucy,  astonished . 
She  couldn't  imagine  how  any  young  gentleman 
jould  have  called  to  see  her.  She  looked  up  to 
Mary  Jay,  without  saying  a  word. 

"  Well,  Lucy,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  you  had  bet- 
ter go  and  see  who  it  is." 

So  Lucy  rose ;  but  she  was  somewhat  afraid  to 
go.  However,  she  followed  the  little  girl  out ;  and 
then,  passing  through  the  intervening  room,  she 
went  to .  the  front  door;  and  there  Lucy  found 
that  the  young  gentleman  was  nobody  but  Royal. 
Lucy  laughed  aloud. 

"  What  are  you  laughing  at  ? "  said  Royal. 


JUST    SAVED.  109 

"  Why,  the  girl  said  that  there  was  a  young 
gentleman  at  the  door,  who  wanted  to  see  me." 

"  Well,  I  am  a  young  gentleman,"  said  Royal, 
"  I'd  have  you  to  know.  But  come,  I  am  going 
to  ride  away  in  a  chaise,  and  my  father  said  that 
I  might  call  and  get  you  to  go  too,  if  Mary  Jay 
was  willing." 

So  Lucy  went  in  to  ask  Mary  Jay.  She 
readily  gave  her  consent,  only  she  told  Lucy 
that  she  had  better  take  Royal  about  the  garden 
and  yards  a  little,  and  let  him  see  what  there  was 
to  be  seen. 

Lucy  was  much  pleased  to  adopt  this  plan. 
She  first  took  Royal  to  the  water  post,  as  she 
called  it,  to  let  him  see  the  water  spout  out,  and 
she  told  him  that  the  pipes,  which  conveyed  the 
water  to  it,  were  wooden  pipes,  not  leaden 
ones.  Then  she  conducted  him  into  the  garden, 
and  pointed  out  the  hive  of  bees  to  him,  standing 
at  a  safe  distance.  Then  they  both  clambered 
over  the  stile,  and  went  down  to  the  brook,  where 
Lucy  was  going  to  show  him  Mary  Jay's  seat ;  but 
her  attention  was  arrested  at  the  sight  of  a  duck 
and  six  small  ducklings,  sailing  about  upon  the 
pond.  Both  Royal  and  Lucy  were  greatly  de- 
lighted at  this  sight.  The  little  ducklings  would 
swim  about,,  and  dabble  with  their  bills  in  the 
10 


110  lucy's  studies. 

sand,  and  in  the  grass  upon  the  bank,  as  skilfully 
as  if  they  had  been  practising  half  a  dozeD 
years. 

"  O,  what  beautiful  little  things  !  "  said  Royal. 
"  I  wish  I  had  a  duck." 

"  I  didn't  know  that  Mary  Jay  had  any 
ducks,"  said  Lucy. 

Some  of  the  ducks  were  nearly  black,  and 
some  were  yellow ;  they  were  all  covered  with  a 
silky  down,  instead  of  feathers,  with  a  little  tuft 
on  each  side,  in  the  place  of  wings.  Their  little 
web  feet  were,  however,  perfectly  formed,  and 
were  smooth  and  glossy.  Lucy  saw  one  very 
plainly,  when  one  of  the  ducks  was  running  on 
the  bank. 

After  some  time,  the  children  left  the  pond 
and  the  ducks,  and  went  up  to  the  house  again  ; 
and  then  Lucy  got  into  the  chaise  with  Royal, 
and  rode  away.  They  rode  about  two  miles, 
when  Royal  did  his  errand,  and  then  they  re- 
turned home.  Royal  left  Lucy  at  her  school 
again,  as  there  was  some  more  school  time  yet 
left ;  and,  besides,  Lucy  wanted  to  ask  Mary  Jay 
something  about  the  ducks. 

When  she  came  into  the  school-room,  however, 
Mary  Jay  said  to  her,  — 

"  Well,  Lucy,  have  you  had  a  pleasant  ride  ?  " 


JUST    SAVED.  Ill 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  we  went  over  the  bridge, 
and- " 

Lucy  was  going  on  to  describe  her  ride,  but 
Mary  Jay  said  that  it  was  her  study  hours,  and 
that  she  had  better  sit  right  down  to  her  studies, 
and  when  she  had  finished  her  lesson,  then  she 
should  like  very  much  to  hear  about  her  ride. 

"  You  see,"  continued  Mary  Jay,  "  that  it  will 
be  better  for  us  not  to  lose  any  more  time  than  is 
necessary,  when  you  go  away  to  ride ;  for  then 
your  father,  when  he  finds  it  doesn't  make  much 
interruption,  will  let  you  go  the  often er." 

Lucy  accordingly  sat  down  at  once  to  her 
work,  and  studied  industriously  upon  her  spelling 
lesson,  until  the  time  had  expired.  Then  she  told 
Mary  Jay  about  her  ride,  and  afterwards  asked 
her  about  the  ducks. 

"  The  ducks !  "  repeated  Mary  Jay ;  "  where 
did  you  see  them  ?     Down  in  the  brook  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  a  duck,  and  six  little 
ducklings." 

"Why,  Lucy,"  said  Mary  Jay,  apparently 
much  surprised,  and  starting  up  to  take  her 
crutches.  "Then  my  ducklings  are  hatched 
out." 

"  Didn't  you  know  it  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  Mary  Jay ;  "  let  us  go  and  see  " 


112  lucy's  studies. 

So  Mary  Jay  and  Lucy  hastened  out  into  the 
yard.  From  the  yard  they  passed  into  the  gar- 
den, and  from  thence  over  the  stile.  They  fol- 
lowed the  path  down,  until  they  came  to  the 
water ;  and  here  Mary  Jay  seemed  to  be  even 
more  pleased  that  Royal  and  Lucy  had  been, 
to  see  her  little  ducklings. 

"  1  didn't  know  that  they  were  hatched,"  said 
Mary  Jay  ;  "  the  duck  has  been  sitting  for  some 
time,  but  I  didn't  think  that  she  could  find  her 
way  down  here  alone,  with  all  the  little  ducklings. 
Let's  see  —  how  many  are  there  ?  " 

"  Six,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  Royal  and  I  counted 
them." 

"  One,  two,  three,  four,  five,  —  and  that  little 
black  one  on  the  bank  makes  six,"  said  Mary 
Jay.     "  But  there  ought  to  be  seven." 

"  Why  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  Because,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  there  were  seven 
eggs.     Let  us  go  to  the  nest  and  see." 

So  Mary  Jay  and  Lucy  went  back  towards 
the  house.  They  went  through  the  garden  and 
the  yard  beyond,  where  the  aqueduct  was  situ- 
ated, and  thence  they  passed  into  another  yard, 
where  there  was  a  barn  and  a  shed. 

"  I  don't  see  how  the  little  ducklings  could  get 
over  all  these  fences,"  said  Lucy. 


JUST    SAVED.  113 

"  No,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  they  didn't ;  there  is 
another  way  for  them  to  go.  I  will  show  it  to 
you  presently." 

They  now  came  into  a  shed,  where  there  was 
a  cart  and  a  wagon ;  and  in  one  corner  there  was 
a  sleigh,  which  had  been  stored  away  there  for 
the  summer.  Mary  Jay  looked  under  the  sleigh, 
and  Lucy  stooped  down  and  looked  under  too. 

There  was  a  nest  made  of  hay  under  the  back 
corner  of  the  sleigh,  with  several  egg-shells  lying 
about  it;  in  the  nest  was  one  egg  remaining, 
which  seemed  to  be  whole. 

"  There  is  one  egg,"  said  Mary  Jay  ;  "  couldn't 
you  creep  under  and  get  it,  Lucy  ?  Stop  a  minute, 
and  I  will  put  something  down  for  you  to  kneel 
upon." 

So  Mary  Jay  took  the  seat  out  of  the  sleigh, 
which  was  a  smooth  board,  like  a  box  cover, 
and  she  put  it  down  upon  the  ground  between 
the  two  runners.  Then  Lucy  crept  in  upon 
this,  going  in  in  front ;  and  when  she  came  to 
the  end  of  the  seat,  she  found  that  she  could 
just  reach  the  egg.  She  took  it  up,  and  was 
bringing  it  out,  when  suddenly  she  dropped  it, 
appearing  to  be  frightened. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ? "  said  Mary  Jay. 

u  Why,  1  heard  it  peep,"  said  Lucy. 
10* 


114  lucy's   STUDIES. 

"  Did  you  ?  "  said  Mary  Jay  ;  "  then  there  must 
be  a  little  duckling  in  it  alive.  Take  it  up  very 
carefully,  and  bring  it  out  to  me." 

So  Lucy  took  up  the  egg  again,  and  crept  out 
backward,  and  handed  it  to  Mary  Jay.  Then 
she  came  out  entirely,  and  stood  up  before  Mary 
Jay  to  see  the  egg.  It  was  cracked  and  broken 
by  the  fall. 

"  Put  the  seat  back  in  its  place,  Lucy,"  said 
Mary  Jay,  "  and  then  we  can  get  into  the  sleigh, 
and  sit  down." 

So  Lucy  put  the  seat  back  in  its  place,  and 
they  both  stepped  in  and  sat  down.  Then  Mary 
Jay  began  carefully  to  pull  off  the  pieces  of  the 
shell. 

"  Are  you  going  to  take  the  little  duckling 
out  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mary  Jay ;  "  but  I  don't  be 
lieve  it  will  live." 

"  Why  not  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Because,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  it  is  so  tendet 
and  young.  You  see  it  is  not  fledged  yet,  and  it 
ought  to  be  kept  warm  ;  but  the  old  duck  has 
gone  away  with  the  others,  and  so  she  will  not 
take  care  of  it  ;*  and  it  is  not  grown  enough  to 
swim  about  in  the  water." 

By  this  time,  Mary  Jay  had  got  the  little  duck- 


JUST    SAVED.  115 

ling  out,  and  held  it  in  her  hand.  He  was  partly 
covered  with  a  coarse  sort  of  bristles,  the  rudi- 
ments of  future  feathers.  He  peeped  a  little,  but 
he  could  not  stand,  or  hold  up  his  head.  He  lay 
extended  upon  Mary  Jay's  hand,  almost  lifeless 
and  cold. 

"  How  shaggy  he  looks  !  "  said  Mary  Jay. 

"  Shaggy  ? "  repeated  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mary  Jay ;  "  he  looks  more 
like  a  young  porcupine,  than  like  a  duck." 

"  Let  me  hold  him  in  my  hand,"  said  Lucy. 

So  Mary  Jay  gently  placed  him  in  Lucy's 
hand. 

"  Now  put  your  other  hand  over  him,"  said 
Mary  Jay.' 

"  What  for  ?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  To  keep  him  warm,"  said  Mary  Jay. 
"  One  of  your  hands  will  be  a  bed,  and  the  other 
a  blanket." 

"  We'll  go  in  and  give  him  something  to  eat," 
said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  replied  Mary  Jay,  "  it  is  warmth,  not 
food,  that  he  wants." 

So  Mary  Jay  walked  along  towards  the  house, 
and  Lucy  followed  her,  carrying  the  duckling  very 
carefully,  covering  it  with  her  right  hand,  though 
she  took  care  not  to  press  her  hand  down  upon  it 


116  lucy's  studies. 

hard  enough  to  hurt  it.  When  they  got  into  the 
house,  Mary  Jay  got  a  little  basket,  not  much  larger 
than  a  tea-cup,  and  lined  the  bottom  of  it  with 
cotton.  Then  she  put  in  the  duckling,  and 
covered  him  over  with  cotton. 

"O  Mary  Jay,"  said  Lucy,  "you'll  stifle 
him." 

"No,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "he  has  more  air  to 
breathe  than  he  had  in  the  egg-shell ;  the  great 
thing  is  to  keep  him  warm." 

When  Mary  Jay  had  got  the  little  duckling 
comfortably  established  in  his  basket,  she  went 
out  into  the  kitchen,  and  put  the  basket  in  a 
pretty  warm  corner,  and  left  him.  Then  she 
told  Lucy  that  it  was  time  for  her  to  go  home. 

"  Do  you  think  that  the  duckling  will  live  ?  " 
said  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  I  am  afraid  not  — 
but  we  can  tell  by  the  time  you  come  to  school 
to-morrow  morning." 

When  it  was  time  for  Lucy  to  come  home  from 
her  school  the  next  day,  Royal  went  out  to  the 
door  to  watch  for  her ;  for  Lucy  had  told  him 
about  the  duckling,  and  he  was  very  eager  to  hear 
whether  it  was  alive  or  not.  After  waiting  some 
time,  he  caught   a   glimpse   of  Lucy's   bonnet, 


JUST    SAVED.  117 

through  the  trees,  as  she  was  coming  along  the 
road.  When  she  had  advanced  so  far  as  to  come 
into  full  view,  he  saw  that  she  had  a  little  basket 
m  her  hand,  which  she  was  bringing  along  very 
carefully. 

"  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  calling  out  aloud  to  her, 
"  what  have  you  got  there  ? " 

Lucy  looked  up,  and,  seeing  Royal,  began  to 
run  along  a  little,  very  gently,  towards  him ; 
but  she  checked  herself  immediately,  finding  that 
it  shook  the  basket  too  much.  So  she  contented 
herself  with  walking  as  fast  as  she  could,  calling 
out  at  the  same  time,  in  reply  to  Royal,  — 

"  I've  got  the  little  duckling.  Mary  Jay  has 
given  it  to  me." 

By  this  time  Royal  had  run  up  to  where  she 
\vas,  very  eager  to  look  in  and  see  the  little 
duckling. 

"  Is  it  alive,  Lucy  ?  "  said  he.     "  Is  it  alive? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy ;  and  she  moved  away  a  little 
of  the  cotton,  and  let  Royal  look  in.  The  duck- 
ling held  up  its  head,  and  began  to  peep.  It  was 
alive,  and  pretty  strong,  and  covered  with  a  soft, 
silky  down,  like  the  ducklings  which  Royal  and 
Lucy  had  seen  in  the  water. 

"  You  said  he  was  all  covered  with  bristles," 
said  Royal 


1 18  lucy's  studies. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Lucy,  "  but  they  have  all 
grown  out  into  feathers." 

"  O  Lucy,"  said  Royal,  "  what  a  beautiful 
little  duckling !  I  wish  I  had  it.  Didn't  she  give 
it  partly  to  me  ?  To  me  and  you  together,  1 
guess  it  was,"  he  added. 

"  No,"  replied  Lucy,  "  to  me  alone.  She  gave 
it  altogether  to  me." 

"  Well,"  said  Royal,  "  I  wish  you  would  let 
me  own  it  with  you  ; "  and  then  he  added,  after 
a  moment's  pause,  "  I'll  make  you  a  duck  pond, 
Lucy ;  you  must  have  a  duck  pond." 

"  You  can't  make  a  duck  pond,"  said  Lucy. 

"  O  Lucy  !  yes  I  can,"  replied  Royal. 

"  Big  enough  for  him  to  swim  in  ? "  said  Lucy 

"  Yes,"  replied  Royal,  "  plenty  big  enough." 

"Well,"   said   Lucy,   "but  where   will   you' 
make  it  ?  " 

"  O,  any  where  —  wherever  you  want  it." 

Lucy  still  had  some  doubts  whether  Royal  could 
really  make  a  duck  pond  ;  but,  as  she  wanted  very 
much  to  see  the  little  duckling  swim,  she  finally 
concluded  to  agree  to  Royal's  proposal,  and  to 
let  him  own  it  with  her,  provided  he  would  make 
a  pond. 


119 


CHAPTER    X. 

DIVER. 

Royal  commenced  his  pond  that  afternoon, 
though  the  commencement  of  the  pond  was  the 
commencement  of  difficulties  between  him  and 
Lucy  respecting  their  agreement ;  for  Lucy, 
after  getting  Joanna  to  give  the  duckling  a  little 
meal  and  water,  according  to  Mary  Jay's  direc- 
tions, and  leaving  him  safe  in  Joanna's  care  in  the 
kitchen,  went  out  into  the  yard,  and  found  Royal 
at  work  getting  out  a  large  box,  which  was  behind 
the  barn.  The  box  was  about  as  large  every  way 
as  a  common  bureau  drawer,  being  pretty  long 
and  broad,  but  very  shallow. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  that  box  ? " 
said  Lucy. 

"  I  am  going  to  make  your  duck  pond  with  it," 
said  Royal. 

"  I  don't  see  how  you  are  going  to  make  a 
duck  pond  with  a  box,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  you  see,"  said  Royal,  "  I  am  going  to 
dig  a  square  hole  in  the  ground,  in  a  corner  of  the 


120  lucy's  studies. 

yard,  and  set  this  box  down  in  it,  and  then  I  am 
going  to  pour  water  in  it,  and  so  make  the  duck 
pond." 

"  But  that  won't  be  big  enough,"  said  Lucy. 

"O  yes,"  said  Royal,  "it  will  be  plenty  big 
enough  for  such  a  little  duckling  as  ours.  He  can 
swim  about  in  it  a  great  deal." 

"  It  is  not  yours  and  mine,"  said  Lucy ;  "it  is 
mine  alone." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  it  is  part  mine  ;  you  said 
if  I  would  make  you  a  duck  pond,  you  would  let 
me  own  it  with  you." 

"  Yes,  I  said  I  would  give  it  to  you,  after  you 
had  made  the  duck  pond  ;  but  I  haven't  given  it 
to  you  yet." 

"  Yes,  but,  Lucy,  I  am  going  to  make  the  duck 
pond.     I  am  doing  it  as  fast  as  I  can." 

"  It  won't  be  big  enough,"  said  Lucy.  "  I 
meant  a  duck  pond  as  big  as  Mary  Jay's." 

"  O  Lucy,  I  could  not  possibly  make  such  a 
big  duck  pond  as  that.     That  is  a  great  brook." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  and  so  I  told  you.  I  told 
you  that  you  couldn't  make  such  a  duck  pond 
as  I  wanted." 

Royal  insisted  that  the  bargain  was  fairly  made, 
and  that  he  only  agreed  to  make  a  duck  pond  big 
enough  for  a  duck  to  swim  in.     And  now  he  said 


DIVER.  121 

that  it  was  not  fair  for  Lucy  to  take  back  her 
promise,  and  that  he  meant  to  go  on  and  finish 
the  pond,  and  then  he  should  certainly  have  half 
the  duck  for  his. 

But  Lucy,  on  the  other  hand,  contended  that 
she  meant  a  large  duck  pond ;  whereas  Royal 
was  only  going  to  make  a  box  full  "of  water. 
After  considerable  discussion,  they  very  properly 
agreed  to  refer  the  case  to  Miss  Anne.  They 
both  promised  to  abide  by  her  decision. 

They  found  Miss  Anne  swinging  herself  at  a 
swing,  near  the  back  part  of  the  garden.  After 
hearing  a  full  account  of  the  case  from  each  of 
the  parties,  Miss  Anne  said,  — 

"  It  is  rather  a  difficult  case  to  decide.  Noth- 
ing was  said  about  the  size  of  the  duck  pond  in 
the  bargain,  but  yet  Lucy  says  she  meant  a  large 
one ;  and  it  is  highly  probable  that  she  did. 
Now,  it  is  hard  for  her  to  lose  her  duck,  in  a 
bargain  which  she  did  not  mean  to  make. 

"  But,  then,  on  the  other  hand,"  continued  Miss 
Anne,  "  Royal  honestly  understood  her  to  mean 
a  duck  pond  of  any  size,  and  so  he  began  in  good 
faith  to  fulfil  his  agreement ;  and  now  it  is  rather 
hard  for  him  to  be  disappointed,  and  lose  his 
work." 

"  Why,  Miss  Anne,"  said  Lucy,  "  he  hasn't 
1\ 


122  lucy's  studies. 

I 

done  any  work ;  he  has  only  taken  out  the 
box." 

"  That  is  something,"  said  Miss  Anne,  "  and 
then  the  disappointment  is  a  good  deal ;  so  that 
it  is  a  hard  case  to  decide." 

She  paused  for  a  few  moments,  considering  the 
case,  and  then  she  added, — 

"  You  see,  Royal  —  do  you  not  ?  —  that  your 
claim  is  a  somewhat  doubtful  one  ? " 

"  Why,  I  think,"  said  Royal,  "  that  it  was  a 
fair  bargain ;  and,  besides,  to  make  a  small  duck 
pond  will  be  as  much  as  the  duckling  is  worth." 

"  Still,  that  was  not  her  understanding,  and  so 
the  case  is  somewhat  doubtful.  Now,  sometimes, 
in  such  a  case,  where  a  man  has  a  claim  which 
he  perceives  is,  after  all,  a  doubtful  one,  and  the 
other  party  is  not  willing  to  allow  it,  he  will  not 
insist  upon  it.  We  all  have  just  claims,  which, 
considering  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  we 
do  not  wish  to  insist  upon." 

"  How  ?  "  said  Royal. 

"  Why,  suppose,  for  instance,  that  I  should  lend 
a  book  to  Mary  Jay,  and,  while  it  was  at  her  house, 
it  should  accidentally  get  injured." 

"  But  Mary  Jay  is  very  careful  of  books,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  of  that,"  replied  Miss  Anne ; 


DIVEIl.  123 

"but  then  an  accident  might  happen.  A  little 
child  might  get  it." 

"  But  there  are  no  little  children  there,"  per- 
sisted Lucy. 

"  No  matter,"  replied  Miss  Anne ;  "  we  can 
certainly  make  the  supposition,  that  the  book  got 
injured." 

Lucy  thought  that,  even  as  a  mere  supposition, 
the  idea  that  a  book  could  get  injured,  while 
under  Mary  Jay's  care,  was  wholly  inadmissible. 
However,  she  said  no  more,  and  Miss  Anne  pro- 
ceeded. 

"  Now,  if  that  were  the  case,"  continued  Miss 
Anne,  "  I  should  have  a  claim  upon  Mary  Jay  to 
buy  me  another  book.  If  any  body  borrows  any 
thing,  and  it  gets  injured  while  in  her  care,  she  is 
bound  to  get  another;  so  I  should  have  a  fair 
and  just  claim  upon  her ;  but  I  should  not  insist 
upon  it.  I  should  not  wish  her  to  buy  me  another 
book.  It  would  be  a  just  claim,  but  yet  I  should 
not  insist  upon  it. 

"  Now,  cases  of  this  kind  very  often  happen," 
she  continued,  "  where  persons  have  just  claims, 
which  they  prefer  to  yield,  rather  than  to  insist 
upon.  Now,  you  think,  in  this  case,  Royal,  that 
you  have  a  just  claim  upon  Lucy ;  but,  perhaps, 
considering  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  you 


124  lucy's  studies. 

will  conclude  that  yon  will  not  insist  upon  it. 
That  will  settle  the  whole  question ;  and  I  shall 
be  saved  the  necessity  of  deciding  whether  the 
share  of  the  duck  is  justly  yours  or  not." 

"  Well,"  said  Royal,  after  a  moment's  pause, 
"on  the  whole,  I  don't  care  much.  I  believe 
I'll  make  the  duck  pond,  and  you  may  have  the 
duck  yourself,  Lucy,  pond  and  all." 

Lucy  was  highly  gratified  at  Royal's  generosity, 
in  giving  up  his  claim  so  pleasantly,  and  they 
went  together  out  into  the  yard. 

Royal  then  proceeded  with  his  work.  He  dug 
a  square  hole  in  the  corner  of  the  yard,  and  put 
the  earth,  which  came  out  of  it,  into  his  little 
wheelbarrow,  and  wheeled  it  away,  reserving  one 
wheelbarrow  load.  Then  he  put  the  box  into  its 
place,  and  rammed  in  the  earth  which  he  had  re- 
served, compactly,  all  around  it. 

"  And  now,"  said  Lucy,  "  are  you  going  to  put 
the  water  in  that  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal. 

"  I  don't  think  it  will  be  a  very  good  duck 
pond,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Why  not  ? "  asked  Royal. 

"  Because,"  said  Lucy,  "  the  sides  are  so 
steep,  that  my  little  duck  can't  get  out." 


DIVER.  *  125 

"  Ah,  you'll  see  that  he  can  get  out,  when  it  is 
done." 

"  But,  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  "  what  good  does  it 
do  to  put  in  the  box  ?  Why  don't  you  pour  the 
water  right  into  the  hole." 

"  Because,"  said  Royal,  "  it  would  all  soak 
away  into  the  ground.  The  sides  of  the  box 
will  keep  the  water  from  soaking  away  so  much." 

"  It  will  soak  away  through  the  cracks,"  said 
Lucy.  # 

"  No,"  said  Royal,  "  I  shall  stop  up  the 
cracks." 

Accordingly,  when  Royal  had  finished  placing 
his  box  in  the  ground,  and  had  packed  the  earth 
in  tight  all  around  it,  he  went  away  with  his 
wheelbarrow  to  a  bank  at  some  distance,  down  in 
the  field,  where  there  was  some  clay,  and  he 
brought  a  little  of  this  in  his  wheelbarrow  to  the 
spot.  He  worked  this  clay  over  all  the  seams, 
and  into  the  corners  of  the  box,  ramming  it  down 
hard. 

"  There,"  said  he,  "  now  the  water  can't  get 
through.  Clay  is  water-tight.  Water  can  go 
through  sand,  but  it  can't  get  through  clay." 

"Is  that  what  you  mean  by  water-tight?" 
asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Royal.  "  After  I  have  made 
11* 


126  lucy'9  studies. 

ray  box  water-tight,  with  clay,  then  I  am  going 
to  put  sand  in." 

"  What  is  that  for?  "  said  Lucy. 

"  You  will  see,"  replied  Royal. 

So  Royal,  when  his  clay  was  all  crowded  into 
its  place,  around  the  bottom  of  the  box,  took  his 
wheelbarrow  again,  and  went  after  a  load  of  sand 
and  gravel.  He  had  to  go  to  some  distance  for 
this ;  but  he  succeeded  at  length  in  getting  as 
much  as  he  could  wheel,  t>f  pretty  clean  sand  and 
pebble-stones. 

This  load  he  put  into  the  box,  and  he  disposed 
of  the  sand  and  gravel  in  such  a  way,  as  that  it 
filled  the  box  nearly  full  around  the  sides,  leaving 
a  deep  place  in  the  middle.  Then  he  went  to 
get  some  water. 

He  brought  pailful  after  pailful,  until  he  had 
filled  up  his  little  pond  level  with  the  top.  The 
water  was  somewhat  turbid  immediately  after  he 
had  poured  it  in  ;  but  he  told  Lucy  that  in  a  little 
while  it  would  subside  and  be  clear. 

"  It  will  settle,"  said  he,  "  while  I  am  making 
the  duck  house." 

"  Are  you  going  to  make  a  duck  house  too  ?  " 
asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Royal ;  "  for,  pretty  soon,  you 
see,  the  duck  will  be  big  enough  to  live  out  of 


DIVER.  127 

doors,  and  then  you  will  want  a  house  for 
him." 

So  Royal  went  and  got  another  box.  It  was 
shaped  like  a  trunk,  and  about  as  large,  only  it 
had  no  cover.  Royal  brought  this,  and  placed  it 
at  one  end  of  his  duck  pond,  laying  it  down  upon 
its  side,  so  that  the  open  part  was  towards  the 
pond. 

"There,"  said  he,  "  that  will  do  for  a  house, 
only  the  top  ought  to  be  slanting." 

"  What  for  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  for  the  roof,  —  so  that  the  water  will 
run  off  when  it  rains." 

"  Well,  Royal,"  said  Lucy,  "  we  can  tip  it 
back  a  little,  and  that  will  make  the  top  slanting. 
Then  you  can  put  a  stone  under  one  side,  to  keep 
it  so." 

"  No,"  replied  Royal,  "  for  that  will  make  the 
bottom  slant  back  too.  You  see  the  floor  ought 
to  be  level,  and  only  the  roof  slant  back.  But  I 
know  what  I  can  do." 

Saying  this,  Royal  went  away,  and  got  a  short 
board,  a  little  larger  every  way  than  the  upper 
board  of  the  box.  This  he  placed  over  the  box, 
in  an  inclined  position.  This  was  for  a  roof. 
The  back  part  of  the  roof —  that  is,  the  part  which 
was  away  from  the  pond  —  rested  directly  upon  the 


128  lucy's  studies. 

box.  The  front  part  —  that  is,  the  part  which  was 
towards  the  pond,  which  was,  of  course,  to  be 
raised,  in  order  to  make  the  roof  slant  backward 
—  Royal  supported  by  a  narrow  board,  which  he 
placed  under  this  edge  to  keep  it  up.  He  nailed 
the  roof  securely  in  its  place. 

When  it  was  finished,  there  was,  of  course,  a 
space  between  the  upper  part  of  the  box  and  the 
roof.  Royal  said  that  this  was  the  duck's  garret. 
"  And  now,"  said  he,  "  for  the  yard." 

"  What !  are  you  going  to  make  a  yard  ? " 
asked  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  he  must  have  a  yard,  or 
else  he  will  run  away.  But  while  I  am  making 
a  yard,  Lucy,  you  must  go  into  the  barn,  and  get 
a  little  hay,  and  make  him  a  nest." 

So  Lucy  went  into  the  bam,  and  got  some 
hay,  while  Royal  took  his  wheelbarrow,  and 
went  away  to  find  some  boards  for  the  yard.  He 
brought  three  or  four  boards,  and  with  these  he 
made  a  yard.  The  boards  were  about  six  feet 
long.  He  placed  them  upon  the  ground,  upon 
their  edges.  Each  board  made  one  side  of  the 
yard.  He  nailed  them  together  at  the  four  cor- 
ners. One  of  the  boards  passed  directly  behind 
the  duck  house ;  the  others  extended  on  each 
side,  and  forward,  so  as  to  enclose  the  duck  pond 


DIVER.  129 

and  considerable  space  besides,  so  tbat  the  duck 
could  come  out  of  bis  house,  and  either  swim  in 
his  pond,  or  else  walk  about  upon  the  ground, 
just  as  he  pleased ;  only  he  could  not  get  over 
the  boards,  so  as  to  ran  away. 

"  That  is  a  beautiful  duck  yard,"  said  Lucy, 
"  only  I  wish  there  was  a  door  for  me  to  open,  to 
go  in." 

"  O,  you  can  step  right  over  it,"  said  Royal. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  know  I  can  step  over 
it ;  but  I  should  like  a  door." 

"  Well,"  said  Royal,  "  I  will  see  if  I  can  con- 
trive some  way  to  make  a  door." 

Royal  then  went  and  got  a  small  block  of 
wood,  which  he  brought  to  the  duck  yard,  and 
put  it  clown  before  it,  close  to  the  board  upon  one 
side.     When  he  had  it  properly  placed,  he  said,  — 

"  There,  Lucy,  that  will  do  for  a  step,  and  you 
can  step  up  by  that,  and  so  get  over  easily  ;  and 
you  can  call  that  a  door.     Won't  that  do  ?  " 

Lucy  said  that  it  would  do  very  well  ;  and  she 
stepped  over  by  means  of  her  step,  and  back 
again,  several  times.  She  said  it  made  a  very 
good  door  indeed. 

By  the  time  that  all  this  had  been  doing,  the 
water  in  the  little  pond  had  become  quite  clear, 


130 


LUCY'S    STUDIES. 


and  Lucy  could  see  that  it  had  a  smooth,  sandy 
bottom.  So  they  both  wanted  to  bring  the  duck 
out,  and  see  it  swim.  Lucy  was  afraid  that  it 
was  too  little  to  swim  ;  but  Royal  insisted  that  a 
duck  could  swim  just  as  quick  as  it  could  get 
out  of  the  shell.  Lucy  said  that  she  meant  to 
ask  Joanna ;  and  they  accordingly  both  went  into 
the  house  to  ask  Joanna  if  it  would  do  to  put 
their  little  duck  into  the  water. 

Joanna  said  that  she  thought  he  could  swim, 
and,  at  any  rate,  that  she  would  go  out  with  them, 
and  carry  him,  and  see.  Then  they  all  went  out 
together. 

Joanna  said  that  she  liked  the  pond,  and  the 
house,  and  the  yard,  all  very  much  indeed. 

"  But  I  think,"  she  added,  "  that  it  would  be 
better  to  keep  the  little  duck  in  the  house  at 
night,  for  a  while,  where  he  can  be  kept  warm, 
until  he  gets  a  little  older.  Then,  in  the  day- 
time, while  the  sun  is  out,  you  can  keep  him  here 
in  his  house ;  and  then,  after  some  time,  when  he 
gets  older  and  stronger,  you  can  let  him  stay  in 
his  house  all  the  time,  day  and  night." 

So  saying,  Joanna  gently  put  the  duck  down 
upon  the  edge  of  his  pond,  in  order  to  see  what 
he  would  do.     He  ran  right  into  it  at  once,  and 


DIVER.  133 

immediately  began  to  swim  about  as  dexterously 
as  if  he  had  been  accustomed  to  the  water  as 
long  as  his  mother  had  been. 

"He  can  swim!"  exclaimed  Lucy;  "see, 
Royal !  he  can  swim  ! " 

The  duck  then  began  to  dabble  with  his  bill  in 
the  sand,  upon  the  margin  of  the  water.  Then 
he  took  up  a  little  water,  and  held  his  bill  up  to 
let  the  water  run  down  his  throat.  Then  he 
looked  up  with  one  eye  towards  Royal  and  Lucy, 
and  then  he  swam  across  the  pond  again,  and 
went  to  dabbling  in  the  sand  upon  the  other  side. 

"O  ducky,"  said  Royal,  "what  a  cunning 
little  rogue  you  are ! " 

"  Let's  give  him  something  to  eat,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Joanna,  "  I  brought  him  a  little 
piece  of  bread  ; "  and  so  saying,  she  proceeded 
to  crumb  her  bread  upon  the  ground,  near  the 
duckling.  He  came  out  upon  the  bank,  and 
began  to  pick  up  some  of  the  small  crumbs  im- 
mediately ;  and  then  he  turned  around,  and  jumped 
into  the  water  again,  and  swam  away,  striking  the 
water  from  beneath  him  with  his  little  web  feet. 
Joanna  laughed  heartily  at  his  comical  move- 
ments ;  and,  after  looking  at  him  for  a  few  minutes, 
she  left  him  with  the  children,  and  went  back  to 
the  house. 

12 


134 


LUCY  S    STUDIES. 


The  children  let  the  duck  swim  about  in  his 
pond  for  more  than  an  hour,  while  they  remained 
near,  sometimes  watching  his  motions,  and  some- 
times playing  at  a  little  distance  from  his  house 
and  yard.  They  had  some  conversation  about 
his  name.  Several  names  were  talked  of,  but 
finally  they  concluded  to  call  him  Diver.  They 
gave  him  as  much  bread  as  they  thought  he  ought 
to  have,  and  then  Royal  put  the  remainder  of  the 
pieces,  which  Joanna  had  brought  out,  in  Diver's 
garret,  which  he  said  would  be  a  fine  place  to 
keep  his  provisions  in. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  think  it  will  be  an  ex- 
cellent place,  and  I  am  much  obliged  to  you, 
Royal,  for  making  me  such  a  good  duck  pond, 
and  house,  and  yard.  I  am  very  glad  to  have  it. 
It  is  a  great  deal  better  than  I  expected  that  it 
would  be.  And  I  believe,  on  the  whole,  that  I 
shall  let  you  own  Diver  with  me.  We  will  own 
him,  and  his  house,  and  his  yard,  and  his  pond, 
all  together." 

"  Yes,"  said  Royal,  "  so  we  will." 

The  children  went  in  and  told  Miss  Anne  how 
they  had  settled  the  business,  and  she  said  that 
she  was  glad  of  it.  "  It  is  much  better,"  she  said, 
"  to  arrange  such  affairs  in  a  spirit  of  kindness  and 
good-will,  than  for  each  party  to  insist  upon  his  or 


DIVER.  135 

her  claims,  and  have  the  case  decided  as  a  dispute 
between  them ;  and  I  am  very  glad  that  you  have 
settled  it  in  an  amicable  manner." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  amicable  ? "  asked 
Lucy. 

"  Friendly"  replied  Miss  Anne. 


136 


CHAPTER    XL 
A    CONVERSATION. 

After  Lucy  had  been  at  school  for  some  days, 
and  had  learned  a  little  how  to  study  by  herself, 
and  to  follow  Mary  Jay's  directions,  Mary  Jay 
asked  her,  one  day,  if  she  knew  what  her  mother 
wanted  her  to  study.  She  said  that  she  didn't 
know.  "  Then,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  I  wish  that 
you  would  ask  your  mother,  and  tell  me  to- 
morrow." 

Lucy  did  ask  her  mother,  and  her  mother  con- 
sulted her  father.  The  result  of  their  conversation 
was,  that  they  should  like  to  see  Mary  Jay  about 
Lucy's  studies ;  and  they  concluded  to  invite  her 
to  come  that  evening  and  take  tea  with  them, 
and  then,  after  tea,  they  would  have  time  to  talk 
about  it. 

Royal  wished  to  go  and  bring  Mary  Jay  in  the 
chaise,  as  she  couldn't  walk  very  well ;  and  his 
father  said  that  that  would  be  an  excellent  plan. 
Lucy  invited  her  when  she  went  to  school  that 
morning ;  and  in  the  afternoon,  when  it  was  time 


A    CONVERSATION.  137 

ior  her  to  come,  Royal  and  Lucy  went  for  her  in 
the  chaise. 

The  first  thing,  after  Mary  Jay  arrived,  was  to 
take  her  out,  and  let  her  see  the  duck  pond  and 
house.  Mary  Jay  was  very  much  pleased  indeed ; 
and  she  said  that,  when  her  ducklings  grew  up,  she 
would  give  them  another,  and  then  they  would 
have  a  pair. 

Royal  wished  that  Mary  Jay  would  give  them 
the  other  duckling  then,  so  that  they  might  bring 
them  up  together;  but  he  didn't  think  that  it 
would  be  proper  for  him  to  ask  it,  and  so  he  only 
said  that  he  and  Lucy  would  be  very  glad  indeed 
to  have  a  pair. 

After  tea  that  evening,  Lucy's  father  and 
mother,  and  Mary  Jay,  sat  down  to  talk  about 
Lucy's  studies. 

"  I  believe,"  said  Lucy's  father,  "  that  teachers 
have  often  very  wrong  ideas  about  the  proper 
studies  for  children.  The  question  is,  not  what 
studies  are  the  easiest,  but  what  can  be  pursued 
to  best  advantage.  Now,  there  are  some  things 
which  children  can  learn  thoroughly,  as  far  as  they 
learn  them  at  all,  and  others  that  they  cannot 
learn  thoroughly." 

"  Not  if  they  are  thoroughly  taught  ? "  said 
Mary  Jay. 

12*- 


138  lucy's  studies. 

"  No,"  said  he,  "  because  they  cannot  be 
thoroughly  taught ;  for  the  very  things  that  the 
study  relates  to,  are  such  that  they  cannot  really 
appreciate  them.  Take  history,  for  example.  If 
a  child,  like  Lucy,  is  to  study  history,  she  reads, 
perhaps,  in  her  book,  that  a  rebellion  broke  out, 
and  the  leaders  of  it  beheaded  the  king.  Now, 
she  may  commit  the  words  to  memory,  it  is  true, 
and  recite  the  lesson  fluently ;  but  she  cannot 
have  any  adequate  idea  of  the  truth,  because  the 
elements  of  it  are  beyond  her  capacity." 

"  I  don't  understand  one  word  that  you  say," 
said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  if  you  read  in  a  book  of  history,"  said 
her  father,  "  that  a  rebellion  broke  out,  and  that 
the  leaders  of  it  beheaded  the  king,  you  cannot 
really  understand  it,  because  you  cannot  under 
stand  what  a  rebellion  is,  or  what  the  leaders  are, 
or  even  what  a  king  is." 

"  Why,  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  know  what  a 
king  is  already ;  and  Mary  Jay  could  tell  me  the 
other  things." 

"  What  is  a  king  ? "  asked  her  father. 

"Why  he — he  —  is  a  kind  of  man,  and  he 
lives  in  a  great  palace ;  —  and  he  makes  people 
obey  him,  I  believe,"  said  Lucy. 

Her  father  did  not  say  any  thing  in  reply  to  her 


A    CONVERSATION.  139 

description  of  a  king ;  but  Mary  Jay  saw  very 
clearly,  that  she  could  not  possibly  have  any  thing 
more  than  a  very  inadequate  and  childish  idea  of 
a  king. 

"  It  is  so  with  all  the  ideas,"  continued  her 
father,  addressing  Mary  Jay,  "which  history 
brings  before  the  mind.  They  are  greatly  com- 
plicated, and  of  very  extended  and  intricate  rela- 
tions, so  that  young  children  cannot  possibly  ap- 
preciate them.  If  you  tell  them  that  Columbus 
discovered  America  in  1492,  they  can  leam  the 
words  ;  but  they  are  utterly  unable  to  appreciate 
the  truth.  They  cannot  form  any  conception  of 
America,  or  of  Columbus,  and  the  date  1492 
marks  no  era  of  the  world  in  their  minds." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  but  isn't  it  so 
with  all  studies  ? " 

"No,  by  no  means,"  replied  Lucy's  father. 
"The  truths  of  arithmetic  a  child  can  appre- 
ciate as  fully  and  completely  as  any  person. 
Three  from  ten  leaves  seven.  Now,  a  child  may 
be  longer  in  learning  that  than  a  grown  person ; 
but  when  she  once  understands  it,  she  understands 
it  as  perfectly  as  any  mind  can.  The  reason  is, 
that  the  idea  of  three  is  a  simple  idea,  which,  if  it 
is  formed  at  all  in  the  mind,  is  formed  fully  at 


140  lucy's   STUDIES. 

once.  But  the  idea  of  a  rebellion,  or  of  a  king, 
or  an  army,  is  a  complicated  idea,  which  can  be 
acquired  only  slowly,  and  after  some  years  of  ex- 
perience of  life,  of  reading  and  observation." 

"  What  are  some  of  the  other  studies,"  asked 
Mary  Jay,  "  besides  arithmetic,  which  children 
can  leam  to  advantage  ? " 

"  Reading  is  one.  A  child  who  learns  what 
the  sound  is,  that  is  represented  by  the  character 
S,  knows  the  truth  as  completely  and  thoroughly 
as  Sir  Isaac  Newton  could  have  known  it.  Then 
there  is  writing,  including  spelling." 

"  Spelling  belongs  to  reading,  father,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  You  learn  the  art  of  spelling,  generally,  with 
reading ;  but  we  use  it  only  with  writing,"  replied 
her  father. 

"  How  ? "  said  Lucy. 

"  Why,  the  chief  reason  why  we  learn  to  spell 
is,  so  as  to  be  able  to  spell  the  words  correctly 
when  we  are  writing.  We  do  not  spell  the  words 
when  we  read.  Therefore,  to  be  able  to  spell  is 
rather  a  part  of  the  art  of  writing,  than  of  reading. 
In  reading,  the  scholar  must  be  able  to  pronounce 
all  the  words  which  she  finds  already  spelt ;  and 
in  writing,  she  must  be  able  to  spell  them  again." 


A    CONVERSATION.  141 

"  Is  geography  another  study  ? "  said  Mary 
Jay. 

"  Geography,  one  would  at  first  think,  would 
be  one  of  the  studies  which  a  child  could  learn 
thoroughly ;  but,  on  reflection,  we  shall  see  that 
the  elementary  ideas,  which  that  study  brings  to 
the  mind,  are  beyond  the  grasp  of  very  young 
children.  They  have  no  ideas  of  distance,  and 
of  course  can  have  no  adequate  conception  of  the 
earth,  or  of  continents,  oceans,  mountains.  It  is 
impossible  to  carry  the  mind  of  a  very  young 
child  away  from  the  lines,  and  dots,  and  crooked 
configurations  of  the  map,  to  the  vast  forms  of 
real  land  and  water,  represented  by  them.  We 
all  carry  with  us  to  the  end  of  life  absurd  and 
ridiculous  ideas  of  some  regions  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face, which  we  obtained  from  our  maps,  when  we 
were  children.  But  a  child  cannot  very  well 
form  an  absurd  or  ridiculous  idea  of  the  number 
ten,  or  of  the  letter  s,  or  of  the  mode  of  spelling 
until." 

"  Well,  father,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  know  what  a 
mountain  is,  at  any  rate." 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  said  her  father. 

"  It  is  a  great,  high  hill." 

"  How  high  is  it  ? "  said  her  father. 

"  O,  it  is  very  high/'  said  Lucy,  reaching  up 


i42  lucy's  studies. 

with  her  hand  ;  "  very  high,  indeed.  Higher 
than  this  house." 

"  Is  it  as  high  as  a  tree  ?  "  said  her  father. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "  a  great  deal  higher  than 
a  tree." 

"  Is  it  as  high  as  the  steeple  of  a  church  ? " 
asked  her  father. 

"  Why,  I  don't  know,"  answered  Lucy.  "  I 
don't  know  that  it  is  quite  so  high  as  the  steeple 
of  a  church." 

Mary  Jay  smiled ;  but  Lucy's  father  only 
said  that  it  was  true  that  church  steeples  were 
sometimes  very  high.  Mary  Jay  saw  how  inade- 
quate all  Lucy's>ideas  of  the  magnitude  of  moun- 
tains were ;  for,  in  fact,  the  principal  mountains 
of  the  world  are  as  much  higher  than  the  steeple 
of  a  church,  as  the  house  that  Lucy  lived  in  was 
higher  than  her  duck  house.  In  fact,  Lucy  was 
entirely  unable  to  form  any  conception,  when  she 
heard  the  word  mountain,  of  the  vast  and  complica- 
ted idea  expressed  by  it,  —  including  the  immense 
and  towering  elevations,  the  forests,  the  rocks, 
and  the  glaciers,  —  the  broken  ranges,  the  chasms 
and  valleys,  and  the  lofty  summits,  bare,  and  deso- 
late, and  cold.  Her  idea  of  a  mountain  was  only 
that  of  a  great  green  hill. 

"  Then,"  said  Mary  Jay,  "  you  would  rathei 


A    CONVERSATION.  143 

have  Lucy  not  study  any  thing,  but  what  she  can 
learn  thoroughly  —  reading,  spelling,  writing,  and 
arithmetic." 

"  No,"  replied  Lucy's  father,  "  I  did  not  saj 
exactly  that ;  I  wouldn't  forbid  her  making  a  be- 
ginning upon  geography  or  history,  —  if  we  can 
get  some  suitable  book,  — by  way  of  variety,  and 
to  give  her  a  little  introduction  to  these  studies. 
But  I  want  her  main  time  and  attention,  for 
several  years,  to  be  directed  to  the  other  studies, 
which  she  can  pursue  to  advantage.  Remember 
that  every  step  she  takes  in  learning  the  three 
great  arts,  of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  is  a 
step  taken  well  and  thoroughly,  —  but  that  what- 
ever ground  she  goes  over  in  history,  geography, 
or  philosophy,  or  any  such  study,  is  gone  over  in 
a  very  superficial  manner ;  and  that  all  the  ideas 
she  forms  are  childish,  inadequate,  and  oftentimes 
entirely  incorrect  or  absurd." 

Mary  Jay  was  very  much  interested  in  whar 
Lucy's  father  had  been  saying ;  but  Lucy  did  not 
understand  it  very  well,  and,  as  she  could  not 
understand,  she  had  gradually  ceased  to  pay  any 
attention,  and  was  now  thinking  of  a  plan  of  get- 
ting Royal  to  carry  Diver  down  to  the  brook, 
which  was  at  some  distance  behind  the  house,  tb.p 


M4  lucy's  studies. 

next  day,  and  let  him  swim  there  ;  and  just  as  her 
father  had  finished  the  last  remark,  she  said,  — 

"  Father,  may  Royal  and  I  carry  Diver  down 
to  the  brook  to-morrow  ? " 

"  Diver  ?  "  repeated  'her  father ;  "  who  is 
Diver?" 

"  O,  haven't  you  seen  Diver  yet,  father  ?  — 
Come  out  then,  and  see  him.  Mary  Jay  gave 
him  to  us." 

This  was  the  first  time  that  her  father  had  heard 
of  Diver.  He  allowed  Lucy  to  take  him  by  the 
hand,  and  to  lead  him  out  to  Royal's  duck  pond. 
He  was  very  much  pleased  with  it,  indeed,  and 
with  Diver's  motions  and  frolics  in  the  water. 
He  said  that  he  did  not  know  before  that  a  young 
duck  was  such  a  pretty  thing.  He  took  it  up,  and 
looked  at  its  little  web  feet,  which  he  admired 
exceedingly,  and  said  that,  if  he  was  an  engineer, 
he  would  attempt  to  construct  paddles  for  a  steam- 
boat on  the  same  principle. 

"  I  should  think  that  they  would  strike  the 
bottom  in  shallow  water,"  said  Mary  Jay. 

"  And  get  broken,"  said  Lucy. 

"  So  they  would,"  replied  her  father.  "  I  didn't 
think  of  that ;  did  I  ?  " 


A    CONVERSATION.  145 

Mary  Jay  got  into  the  chaise  again,  and  Royal 
drove  her  home ;  and  on  the  way,  she  determined 
to  devote  nearly  all  Lucy's  time  in  school  to 
making  as  much,  and  as  thorough  progress  as 
possible,  in  the  great  fundamental  branches  of 
reading,  writing,  spelling,  and  arithmetic* 
13 


146 


CHAPTER    XII. 


INTERRUPTION. 


One  afternoon,  Lucy  went  to  see  her  cousin 
Rollo.  Rollo  was  younger  than  Lucy,  being 
then  about  four  or  five  years  old.  Lucy  was  six 
or  seven.  She  was  going  to  spend  the  evening 
at  her  uncle's,  and  Royal,  her  brother,  was  to  come 
for  her  in  the  chaise  about  half-past  eight  o'clock. 

Before  tea,  Lucy  and  Rollo  had  been  playing 
•vith  picture-books.  Lucy  sat  upon  a  cricket 
before  a  little  book-case,  looking  at  the  books. 
Rollo  had  a  stick  for  a  gun,  and  .was  marching 
about,  stopping  occasionally  to  make  believe  fire 
his  gun.  He  did  not  care  much  about  the  pic- 
ture-books as  he  had  seen  them  a  great  many 
times. 

After  tea,  Rollo's  father  went  into  a  little  back 
parlor,  where  he  had  been  writing,  and  Rollo  and 
Lucy  returned  to  the  little  book-case.  They  had 
a  lamp  now,  for  by  this  time  it  was  dark.  Rollo 
wanted  Lucy  to  make  him  a  little  cap,  so  that  he 


INTERRUPTION.  147 

could  play  soldier  better.  He  had  a  feather, 
which  he  told  her  she  could  put  into  it. 

So  Lucy  took  a  piece  of  paper,  which  was  in 
the  book-case,  and  cut  a  narrow  strip,  which  she 
put  around  Rollo's  head  like  a  band,  and  pinned 
the  ends  together.  Then  she  contrived  to  fasten 
the  feather  in  at  the  side  of  it.  Rollo  said  it 
would  do  very  well  for  a  cap,  and  he  went 
marching  about  and  firing  his  gun. 

Lucy  found  that  she  could  not  see  very  well ; 
so  she  followed  Rollo  out  into  the  entry.  She 
wanted  to  see  where  he  was  going.  Rollo 
marched  along  until  he  came  to  the  door  leading 
into  his  father's  back  parlor.  He  opened  the  door 
and  went  in.  Lucy  remained  at  the  door,  look- 
ing to  see  what  he  would  do. 

Rollo's  father  was  seated  at  a  table  near  the 
window,  with  his  back  to  the  door,  writing  very 
busily ;  and  he  paid  no  attention  to  Rollo,  bui: 
went  on  with  his  work.  Rollo  marched  back- 
wards and  forwards,  imitating  the  sound  of  a 
trumpet  with  his  lips,  and  stopping  occasionally 
to  point  his  stick  towards  his  father,  or  towards 
Lucy,  and  say,  Bang,  as  if  he  was  shooting  them. 

"  Come  in,  Lucy,"  said  Rollo. 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  in  a  low  tone,  and  shaking 
her  head. 


148  LUC5f's    STUDIES. 

"  Yes,"  said  Rollo,  "  come  in  ;  my  father  will 
let  us  come  in." 

But  Lucy  was  afraid  of  interrupting  her  uncle, 
and  so  she  did  not  come  in,  immediately;  but 
rinding,  at  length,  that  her  uncle  went  on  with  his 
work  without  appearing  to  pay  any  attention  to 
Rollo,  she  presently  glided  in,  and  took  her  seat 
upon  a  sofa  which  was  upon  the  side  of  the  room 
opposite  to  where  her  uncle  was  sitting. 

Presently  Rollo's  father  paused  in  his  work, 
and  laid  down  a  ruler,  which  he  had  been  using 
in  copying  a  plan  into  a  letter  that  he  had  been 
writing,  upon  the  table.  He  then  rose  from  his 
seat,  and  turned  around  to  look  at  Rollo.  Rollo 
immediately  began  to  march  back  and  forth  again, 
trumpeting  with  his  lips,  and  shooting  at  his  fa- 
ther with  his  gun. 

"  Come,"  said  his  father,  "  I  think  I  should 
like  to  have  the  enemy  march  out  of  my  king- 
dom." 

"Why,  father,"  said  Rollo;  "I'm  not  the 
enemy." 

"  O,"  said  his  father,  "  I  thought  it  was  the 
enemy." 

"  Yes,  come,  Rollo,"  said  Lucy ;  "  we  had 
better  go  out." 


INTERRUPTION.  149 

"  No,"  said  Rollo ;  "  mayn't  we  stay  here, 
father  ? " 

While  Lucy  and  Rollo  were  saying  this,  Mr. 
Holiday  had  gone  to  his  secretary,  and  opened  it, 
and  was  taking  down  a  bundle  of  papers. 

"  Why,  1  am  afraid,"  said  he,  "  that  you  will 
interrupt  me.  I  am  engaged  in  some  very  per- 
plexing work." 

"  No,  sir,  we  won't,"  said  Rollo.  "  We  will  be 
ever  so  still.  I'll  put  my  gun  away,  and  my 
cap.  Lucy,  you  take  out  my  feather,  and  then 
I'll  take  off  my  cap,  and  we'll  put  it  away,  and 
come  and  sit  down  upon  the  sofa,  and  be  still,  and 
look  at  father's  great  picture-book.  May  we 
have  your  great  picture-book,  father  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  have  no  objection,"  said  his  father, 
"  to  your  having  the  great  picture-book  ;  but  then 
I  am  very  certain  that  you'll  interrupt  me  if  you 
stay  here." 

Rollo's  father  talked  very  indistinctly  as  he 
said  this,  for  his  pen  was  across  his  mouth,  both 
hands  being  occupied  in  turning  over  the  file  of 
papers  which  he  had  taken  down  from  the 
secretary. 

At  length,  he  took  his  seat  at  the  table  again, 
and  began  to  write,  saying,  however,  before  he 
13* 


150  Lucy's   STUDIES. 

began,  that  Rollo  and  Lucy  might  see  if  they 
could  stay  in  his  room  without  interrupting  him. 

"  Come,  Lucy,"  said  Rollo,  "  let  us  go  and  get 
my  little  table  to  put  up  by  the  sofa,  and  then 
we  can  put  the  great  picture-book  upon  it,  and 
then  sit  upon  the  sofa,  and  look  at  the  pictures." 

They  accordingly  went  off  to  get  the  table. 
It  was  a  small,  square  table,  with  a  drawer  in  it. 
It  was  just  high  enough  for  Rollo  and  Lucy,  and 
so  light  that  it  was  very  easy  to  carry  about. 
Rollo  took  hold  of  one  side,  and  Lucy  of  the 
other,  and  they  brought  it  into  the  room  very 
easily. 

"  Now,"  said  Rollo,  looking  about,  "  now  for 
a  light." 

He  observed  that  there  were  two  lamps  upon 
his  father's  table,  and  so  he  went  up  to  the  table 
abruptly,  saying,  — 

"  Father,  will  you  be  good  enough  to  let  us 
have  one  of  your  lights  ?  " 

"  There,"  said  his  father.  "  I  thought  that 
you  would  come  pretty  soon  and  interrupt  me." 

"  But,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  we  can't  see  with- 
out a  light." 

"  No,"  said  his  father ;  "  that  is  true,  no  doubt ; 
but  it  does  not  make  it  any  the  less  an  interrup- 
tion to  me  for  you  to  come  and  ask  me  for  one," 


INTERRUPTION.  151 

"  Well,  but,  father,"  said  Rollo,  moving  back 
slowly,  and  speaking  in  a  disappointed  tone, 
"  then  1  don't  see  what  we  shall  do." 

"  I  thought  you  had  a  light  yourselves,  by 
your  book-case." 

"O  yes,"  said  Lucy,  "so  we  did.  I'll  run 
and  get  it,  Rollo." 

So  Lucy  jumped  up,  and  ran  off  after  the  light, 
while  Rollo  went  to  get  the  great  picture-book. 

What  Rollo  called  the  great  picture-book  was 
a  very  large  and  heavy  volume,  in  his  father's 
library,  which  contained  a  great  many  large  and 
beautiful  pictures.  His  father  never  allowed  him 
to  carry  it  out  of  the  room,  but  sometimes  let  him 
put  it  in  a  chair,  and  turn  over  the  leaves  very 
carefully,  to  see  the  pictures.  Rollo  took  this  book 
down,  which  he  accomplished  without  much  diffi- 
culty ;  for  it  was  on  the  lower  part  of  the  book- 
case, not  very  far  from  the  floor.  He  carried  it  to 
the  little  table,  and  pretty  soon  after  Lucy  came 
in  with  a  light. 

But  here  an  unexpected  difficulty  occurred. 
The  book  was  so  large  that,  when  it  was  opened, 
it  covered  the  whole  top  of  the  table,  and  so 
there  was  no  room  for  the  lamp. 

"  Move  the  book,"  said  Lucy. 


152  lucy's  studies. 

Rollo  moved  it  as  far  as  he  could,  but  there 
was  scarcely  room  for  the  lamp  to  stand. 

"  No,"  said  Lucy,  "  that  won't  do.  The 
lamp  will  get  knocked  off  the  table,  and  will  fall 
upon  the  carpet." 

"  No  it  won't,"  said  Rollo ;  "  I'll  watch  it." 

"  But  I'm  afraid  to  have  it  there,"  said  Lucy. 
"  By  and  by,  we  shall  push  the  book  against  it, 
and  knock  it  over;  and  then  my  aunt  will  be 
very  sorry  indeed." 

"  No,  but,  Lucy,"  said  Rollo,  in  a  very  posi- 
tive tone,  "  I  tell  you  I'll  watch  it." 

Here  Rollo's  father  turned  around  again,  and 
said,  "  Now,  children,  you  are  interrupting  me 
again." 

"  Well,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  it  is  because  our 
table  is  not  big  enough." 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  "  I  see  the  reason,  and 
I  don't  blame  you  particularly ;  only  I  have  not 
time  now  to  attend  to  you,  and  it  interrupts  me 
to  hear  of  your  difficulties.  I  wish  you'd  go  into 
the  front  parlor,  and  amuse  yourselves  there." 

"  Well,  come,  Rollo,"  said  Lucy,  "  let  us  go." 

"I'd  rather  stay  here,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  in  a 
supplicating,  tone.  "  If  you'll  only  tell  us  how 
we  can  put  our  light,"  he  continued,  "  then  we 


INTERRUPTION.  153 

shall  not  interrupt  you  again.  We  shall  not  have 
any  thing  to  interrupt  you  for." 

"Well,"  said  his  father,  "I'll  do  that,  and 
then  I'll  keep  an  account,  and  after  you  have 
interrupted  me  three  times  more,  you  must  go 
out.     Will  you  agree  to  that  ? " 

Rollo  and  Lucy  both  said  that  they  would 
agree  to  that,  and  so  Mr.  Holiday  left  his  work, 
and  went  over  to  the  sofa.  He  saw  at  once  that 
the  table  was  not  large  enough  to  render  it  safe 
to  put  the  lamp  and  the  book  upon  it  together. 
So  he  brought  a  chair,  and  placed  it  near  to  the 
little  table,  and  then  laid  the  book,  open,  upon 
the  chair.  The  chair  was  placed  so  near  to  the 
table  that  the  light  shone  down  upon  the  book. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  children,  you  must  go  and 
get  a  couple  of  crickets,  or  one  long  one,  and  put 
before  the  chair  for  your  seats.  So  the  crickets 
will  serve  for  your  chairs,  the  chair  for  your  table, 
and  the  table  for  your  light-stand." 

They  accordingly  went  and  got  the  crickets, 
and  they  found  that  the  arrangement  answered 
very  well.  They  could  see  the  pictures  distinctly, 
and  there  was  no  danger  now  that  the  lamp 
would  fall  down.  Mr.  Holiday  laid  out  a  small 
piece  of  paper  upon  the  corner  of  his  table,  and 


154  lucy's  studies. 

said  that,  every  time  that  they  interrupted  him, 
in  any  way,  he  should  make  a  mark  upon  that 
paper,  and  that,  as  soon  as  there  were  three  marks 
made,  they  must  go  out. 

The  children  turned  over  the  leaves  of  the 
great  book  very  carefully  for  some  time,  and  were 
much  amused  by  them.  Rollo  was  'greatly  de- 
lighted at  the  picture  of  a  dog  standing  on  his 
head  ;  and  he  talked  and  laughed  about  him  with 
a  great  deal  of  glee.  Lucy  said,  "  Hush !  "  to  him 
several  times,  for  she  was  afraid  that  he  would 
make  so  much  noise  that  her  uncle  would  be 
interrupted,  and  make  a  mark  against  them.  But 
he  seemed  to  take  no  notice  of  it. 

At  last,  they  got  through  the  book,  and  Rollo 
shut  it  up  and  put  it  away.  They  then  did  not 
immediately  know  what  to  do  next ;  but  very 
soon  Lucy  said  that,  if  she  only  had  a  pencil  and 
a  piece  of  paper,  she  would  draw  Rollo  a  house. 
Royal,  she  said,  had  showed  her  how. 

"Only,"  said  she,  "this  chair  would  not  be 
a  good  table  to  draw  upon." 

The  chair  was  what  is  commonly  called  a  cone- 
bottomed  chair.  The  seat  was  made  of  narrow 
strips  of  ratan,  woven  together  in  such  a  way  as 
to  leave  a  great  many  curious  octagonal  interstices. 


INTERRUPTION.  155 

This  did  not  prevent  its  answering  a  very  good 
purpose  as  a  support  for  a  book ;  but  it  was  plain 
that  it  would  not  do  at  all  to  write  upon. 

"  I  know  how  to  manage,"  said  Rollo. 

He  said  no  more,  but  went  immediately  to  a 
corner  of  the  room,  where  there  was  a  small 
space  at  the  end  of  the  secretary,  and  he  pulled 
out  a  smooth  pine  board,  about  as  wide,  and 
twice  as  long,  as  the  top  of  his  little  table.  He 
brought  this  out  with  an  air  of  great  satisfaction, 
and  they  placed  another  chair  at  a  little  distance 
from  the  one  which  they  had  been  using  as  a 
table,  in  such  a  manner  that  he  could  rest  this 
board  upon  the  two  chairs,  one  end  of  the  board 
upon  each. 

"  That's  a  good  smooth  table,"  said  Lucy. 
"  What  is  this  board  made  for  ? " 

"  It  is  one  my  father  has.  He  uses  it  for  a 
great  many  things,"  said  Rollo.  "  When  he  makes 
me  a  little  book,  he  pares  the  edges  upon  it." 

"  Why  does  not  he  do  it  on  his  table  ? "  asked 
Lucy. 

"  Because,"  said  Rollo,  "  then  his  knife  would 
cut  through  down  to  the  table,  and  so  cut  the 
cloth." 

Rollo  then  went  and  got  some  paper  out  of  a 
drawer  where  he  knew  that  there  was  some  kept. 


150  lucy's  studies. 

and  where  he  often  went  to  get  some  for  hi3 
mother.  But  then  he  had  no  pencil ;  so  he  went 
over  to  his  father's  table,  and  said,  — 

"  Father,  do  you  know  where  there  is  a 
pencil  ?  —  two  pencils  ?     We  shall  want  two." 

His  father  did  not  answer  his  question,  but 
quietly  took  up  the  piece  of  paper  which  he  had 
placed  upon  the  corner  of  the  table,  and  made  a 
mark  upon  it,  saying,  at  the  same  time,  — 

"  There's  one  interruption." 

"  Why,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  we  only  want 
two  pencils,  and  I  thought  that  you  could  just 
tell  us  if  you  knew  where  there  are  any." 

"  That  makes  two  interruptions,"  said  his  fa- 
ther.    "  One  more,  and  you'll  have  to  go  out." 

Rollo  looked  confounded;  he  turned  round, 
and  walked  slowly  away,  with  a  very  anxious 
expression  of  countenance. 

"  Don't  you  know  where  you  can  find  any 
pencils  yourself? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  No,"  said  Rollo. 

Then  he  walked  back  slowly  towards  his 
father's  table,  but  was  very  careful  not  to  say 
a  word,  or  make  any  noise,  so  as  not  to  make  an 
interruption.  His  father  had  often  told  him  that, 
when  he  was  busy,  he  ought  not  to  speak,  but 
come  and  stand  quietly  by  his  side,  until   he  was 


INTERRUPTION.  157 

spoken  to.  So  he  thought  he  would  adopt  this 
plan  at  this  time.  He  went  up  cautiously  to  the 
table,  standing  round  in  such  a  position  that  his 
father  could  see  him ;  and  there  he  remained  still, 
waiting  for  his  father  to  look  up  and  ask  him  what 
he  wanted. 

His  father  waited  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
looked  up.  But,  to  Rollo's  grief  and  consterna- 
tion, instead  of  asking  him,  as  usual,  what  he 
wanted,  he  took  up  the  paper,  and  made  another 
mark  upon  it,  saying, — 

"  There's  the  third  interruption." 

Rollo  could  barely  articulate  the  words, "  Now, 
father,"  and  then,  overcome  with  grief  and  disap- 
pointment, he  turned  around,  and  burst  into  tears. 

"  Why,  Rollo,"  said  his  father,  "  you  must  not 
be  so  much  troubled." 

He  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  drew  him  gently 
towards  him,  and  took  him  up  in  his  lap. 

"  You  promised,"  continued  his  father,  "  that, 
if  you  interrupted  me  three  times,  you  would  go 
out  willingly." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  though  he  was  so  much 
in  trouble  that  he  could  not  speak  very  distinctly  ; 
"  but  I  don't  think  you  ought  to  call  that  an 
interruption." 

"  Come  to  think  of  it,"  replied  his  father, 
14 


158  lucy's  studies. 

"  perhaps  I  ought  not  to.  You  came  and  stood 
by  me,  very  still,  so  as  not  to  interrupt  me,  but  to 
wait  until  I  was  at  leisure." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  still  sobbing.  "  I  did 
not  speak  a  word." 

"Well,"  said  his  father,  "1  will  not  count 
that,  then." 

And  so  saying,  he  took  his  pen,  and  crossed  out 
■the  third  mark,  which  he  made  on  the  paper  that 
contained  the  record  of  interruptions.  This  re- 
stored Rollo's  composure,  though  he  still  looked 
very  unhappy.  He  could  not  imagine  why  his 
father  should  have  even  intended  to  have  made  a 
mark  against  him  in  such  a  case. 

"  I  see,"  said  his  father,  "  you  and  I  had  a  dif- 
ferent understanding  about  the  interruptions.  You 
did  not  speak  to  me,  and  interrupt  me  in  the  com- 
mon way  ;  but  still,  do  you  suppose  that  I  could 
go  on  with  my  writing,  while  you  were  standing 
there,  waiting  to  speak  to  me  ? " 

«  Why,  no,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  No,"  added  his  father ;  '•  so  that  your  com- 
ing to  me,  and  waiting  to  ask  me  for  a  pencil, 
really  interrupted  my  work ;  and  that  was  the 
reason  why  I  was  going  to  mark  it.  But,  then,  it 
was  not  what  you  have  commonly  understood  by 
an   interruption,   and   so   I   ought   not   to   have 


INTERRUPTION.  159 

marked  it.  And,  in  fact,"  he  continued,  "  now  I 
have  given  you  so  much  trouble  to  no  purpose,  I 
believe  that  I  will  erase  all  the  marks,  and  begin 
again.  Only  now  you  must  understand  that  you 
must  take  care  of  yourselves  altogether,  and  that, 
if  you  do  any  thing,  in  any  way,  to  take  off  my 
attention  from  my  work,  I  shall  have  to  mark  it." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

He  spoke  this  in  a  tone  of  great  satisfaction 
and  pleasure,  and  jumped  down,  and  went  away 
to  Lucy. 

During  all  this  time,  Lucy  had  been  standing 
near  the  board  table,  looking  at  Rollo  and  his 
father  with  a  countenance  expressive  of  great 
concern.  She  now,  however,  appeared  very 
much  relieved,  and  she  proposed,  in  a  whisper, 
that  they  should  go  out  and  ask  her  aunt  to  lend 
them  some  pencils.  Accordingly  Rollo  went 
and  got  them  in  that  manner,  without  any 
difficulty. 


160 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
THE    THEORY   OF  INTERRUPTION. 

Rollo  did  not  interrupt  his  father  but  once 
more  that  evening.  That  happened  in  the 
following  manner :  Rollo  agreed  to  be  Lucy's 
scholar,  and  she  was  to  teach  him  to  draw.  So 
she  began  to  set  him  a  copy.  She  drew  a  row 
of  figures,  in  a  line  a*ong  the  top  of  the  paper, 
and  Rollo  was  to  imitate  them  by  making  similar 
drawings  below.  The  first  drawing  was  the 
figure  of  a  dog,  the  second  of  a  hat;  the  third 
was  a  pair  of  tongs,  and  the  last  a  mouse.  Lucy 
said  tLat  they  were  not  very  good,  but  that  they 
were  as  good  as  she  could  make. 

Rollo  set  himself  at  work  to  copying  them. 
But  he  said  that  he  meant  to  begin  with  the  hat, 
which  was  the  second  picture ;  for  he  said  the 
dog  was  too  hard  for  him. 

"  O  no,"  said  Lucy ;  "  you  must  begin  at  the 
beginning,  and  proceed  regularly." 

"  No,"  said  Rollo ;  "  I'll  do  the  hat  first,  and 
then  the  dog." 


THE    THEORY    OF    INTERRUPTION.  161 

"  There's  an  interruption,"  said  Rollo's  father ; 
and  he  took  up  the  paper,  and  made  a  mark. 

"  Why,  father  !  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  "  that  interrupts  me  - — 
to  hear  a  dispute  between  you  and  Lucy." 

"  O  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  we  were  not  dis- 
puting." 

"  It  was  only  the  commencement  of  a  dispute, 
I  acknowledge,"  said  his  father ;  "  but  when  you 
had  agreed  to  be  Lucy's  scholar,  to  hear  you 
refusing  to  obey  her  directions,  and  beginning  to 
argue  with  her,  disturbs  my  mind  at  once." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "  then  I'll  draw  the 
dog." 

There  was  no  more  disputing,  and  no  more 
interruption,  for  more  than  half  an  hour.  Rollo 
was  Lucy's  scholar,  and  he  followed  her  instruc- 
tions with  great  faithfulness  and  docility.  At 
length,  just  as  Rollo  was  finishing  the  chimney 
of  a  house,  he  saw  that  his  father  was  getting 
up,  and  beginning  to  put  his  papers  away. 

"  Have  you  finished  your  work,  father?  "  said. 
Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father ;  "  and  when  I  have 
put  away  my  papers,  I  am  coming  to  see  you. 
I  think  you  had  better  put  away  your  drawing, 
too." 

14* 


162  lucy's  studies. 

"  Yes,  so  we  will,"  said  Lucy.  "  I  am  tired 
of  drawing  now." 

Rollo  put  away  the  paper,  which  he  had  not 
used,  reserving  that  which  had  his  and  Lucy's 
drawing  upon  it,  to  show  to  his  mother ;  and  he 
gave  Lucy  the  pencils  to  carry  into  the  other 
room.  Then  he  put  the  board  away  in  its  place 
again,  and  set  the  lamp  upon  the  table.  By 
this  time,  his  father  was  ready ;  and  he  came  and 
sat  down  upon  the  sofa,  while  Lucy  took  her 
place  upon  one  side,  and  Rollo  upon  the  other. 

"  I  believe,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "  that  children 
very  often  don't  understand  exactly  how  it  is 
that  they  interrupt  their  parents,  when  they  are 
busy.  They  think  it  is  noise  which  constitutes 
interruption." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "  and  is  not  it  ?  " 

"  No,  not  exactly,"  replied  his  father.  "  If  it 
should  thunder  while  I  was  writing,  do  you  sup- 
pose that  it  would  interrupt  me?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Lucy  ;  "  I  am  sure  I  should." 

Mr.  Holiday  smiled.  In  fact,  he  perceived 
that  he  had  fallen  upon  an  unfortunate  illustra- 
tion. 

"  Well,  then,"  said  he,  "  suppose  that  I  were 
in  a  city,  and  were  writing  by  a  window,  which 
opened  upon  a  street,  where  a  great  many  horses, 


THE    THEORY    OF    INTERRUPTION.  163 

and  heavy  wagons,  and  coaches,  were  passing ; 
do  you  suppose  that  that  noise  would  interrupt 
me?" 

"  Why,  no,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Well,  now,  suppose  that  I  was  seated  at  my 
own  window,  and  saw  a  single  horse,  walking 
slowly  into  my  garden ;  would  not  that  interrupt 
me." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  "  Yes,  sir,"  answered  Rollo  and 
Lucy  together. 

'•'Because,"  continued  Mr.  Holiday,  "  it  would 
attract  my  attention.  It  would  call  upon  me  to 
do  something ;  that  is,  to  get  up,  and  go  and  get 
somebody  to  drive  him  out." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  think  that  would 
interrupt  me." 

"  While  you  and  Lucy,"  continued  his  father, 
"  were  talking  and  laughing  together,  pleasantly, 
it  did  not  disturb  me  at  all." 

"  When  was  it,  father  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Why,  when  we  were  looking  at  the  dog 
standing  on  his  head,"  said  Lucy ;  "  don't  you 
remember?  I  was  afraid  that  we  should  inter- 
rupt you." 

"  No,"  said  her  uncle,  "  that  did  not  disturb 
me ;  because  you  were  good-natured  and  pleasant, 
and  every  thing  was  going   on  right.     But   the 


164 


LUCY'S    STUDIES. 


moment  Rollo  began  to  argue  about  obeying 
your  directions  in  regard  to  the  drawing,  that 
moment  my  mind  was  disturbed.  You  did  not 
make  nearly  as  much  noise  as  you  had  done 
when  talking  and  laughing  about  the  dog  :  but  it 
was  the  beginning  of  a  difficulty,  and  so  it  troubled 
my  mind. 

"  And  so,"  continued  his  father,  "  when  you 
came,  Rollo,  and  stood  by  my  side,  waiting  to 
speak  to  me  ;  although  I  don't  think  that  you  did 
wrong  at  all,  yet  it  interrupted  me ;  that  is,  it 
attracted  my  attention  from  my  work.  I  said  to 
myself,  '  Here  is  Rollo  wanting  to  speak  to  me, 
and  I  must  stop  my  work,  and  hear  what  he  has  to 
say.'  It  was  not  so  sudden  and  violent  an  inter- 
ruption as  it  was  when  you  came  the  first  time, 
and  broke  in  upon  my  work  at  once,  asking  me 
for  the  pencils ;  but  still  it  interrupted  me.  It 
required  me  to  stop  my  work  to  attend  to  you." 

"  I  thought  that  you  could  just  tell  us,"  said 
Rollo,  "if  you  knew  where  there  were  any  pencils." 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father,  "  and  so  I  might,  if 
I  had  only  been  busy  about  some  ordinary  work. 
But  I  was  very  specially  busy.  I  was  making 
calculations ;  and  I  knew  that,  if  you  came  ever 
so  still  to  speak  to  me,  and  should  thus  make  me 
stop  in  the  middle  of  a  calculation,  I  should  have 


THE  THEORY  OF  INTERRUPTION.    165 

to  give  it  up,  and  begin  again,  and  so  lose  what  I 
had  done. 

"  That's  the  reason,"  he  continued,  "  why  I  am 
not  willing  to  have  you  in  my  room  when  I  am 
very  busy.  You  don't  know  very  well  what 
an  interruption  is.  Children  do  not  have  such 
perplexing  work  to  do  as  men  have,  and  they 
don't  understand  how  easily  the  mind  may  be 
disturbed." 

"  I  did  not  think  that  I  should  interrupt  you," 
said  Rollo,  "  by  only  going  up  to  the  table  and 
standing  still." 

"  No ;  and  therefore,"  said  his  father,  "  you 
were  not  to  blame.  But  you  see  now,  I  suppose, 
how  it  did  interrupt  me.  Why,  one  day  you 
interrupted  me,  and  did  a  great  deal  of  mischief, 
without  saying  a  word  to  me,  or  even  coming 
near  to  the  table." 

"  How  was  it  ? "  said  Rollo. 

"  Why,  you  had  lost  your  hat.  I  knew  where 
it  was,  for.- 1  saw  it  out  under  a  tree,  where  you 
had  left  it.  And  I  heard  you  walking  about  and 
asking  every  body  if  they  knew  where  your  hat  was. 
You  asked  them  quietly  and  very  properly,  but  still 
I  heard ;  and  the  difficulty  which  you  were  in 
attracted  my  attention,  and  confused  me  in  my 
adding." 


166  lucy's  studies. 

"  Adding  ? "  said  Lucy,  in  an  interrogative 
tone ;  that  is,  in  the  tone  of  asking  a  question. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  uncle.  "  I  was  adding  a  long 
column  of  figures ;  and  this  difficulty  about 
Rollo's  hat  took  place  when  I  had  nearly  got 
through.  So  I  lost  my  reckoning  just  as  Rollo 
was  coming  into  my  room,  to  ask  me  where  his 
hat  was.  I  told  him  that  it  was  out  under  the 
tree ;  and  then  I  had  to  begin  once  more,  and 
do  my  work  all  over  again." 

"But,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "you  said  that  I 
did  not  speak  to  you  at  all." 

"  True,"  replied  his  father,  "  and  you  did  not. 
You  were  coming  to  speak  to  me,  and  I  knew 
what  you  were  coming  for.  But  the  interruption 
was  occasioned  before,  by  the  inquiries  which 
you  were  making  out  in  the  entries,  which  I 
heard,  although  you  did  not  speak  very  loud." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  am  sorry  that  I 
interrupted  you.     I  did  not  know  it." 

"  O,  it  is  not  of  much  consequence,"  said  his 
father ;  "  I  only  mentioned  the  case  to  help 
explain  to  you  the  theory  of  interruption." 

"The  what,  sir?  "said  Rollo. 

"  The  theory  of  interruption ;  that  is,  the 
nature  of  it." 


THE    THEORY    OF    INTERRUPTION.  167 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  understand  the 
nature  of  it  now." 

Mr.  Holiday  then  said  that  Lucy  and  Rollo 
might  go  into  the  other  room,  and  that  he  was 
coming  in  himself  pretty  soon.  So  Lucy  took 
their  lamp,  and  they  walked  along  into  the  front 
parlor. 

Lucy  saw,  as  soon  as  she  entered  the  room, 
that  her  aunt  was  sitting  near  the  cradle.  Na- 
than was  lying  in  the  cradle  asleep.  Her  aunt 
was  reading,  with  her  foot  near  the  rocker, 
ready  to-  rock  him  immediately  in  case  he  should 
move. 

Rollo  was  going  up  immediately  to  his  mother 
to  ask  her  what  she  thought  he  and  Lucy  had 
better  play.  But  then  he  concluded,  on  the 
whole,  not  to  interrupt  her ;  and  he  accordingly 
turned  round  and  walked  back  to  Lucy. 

"  Now,  Lucy,  what  shall  we  do  for  the  rest 
of  the  evening." 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Lucy ;  "  I  expect  it  is 
very  nearly  time  for  Royal  to  come  for  me." 

"  O  no,"  said  Rollo,  "  not  yet.  It  is  only 
.cjght  o'clock ;  and  you  are  not  going  home  until 
half  after  eight.  We  shall  have  time  to  play  half 
an  hour  yet." 

Lucy  admitted  this,  and  Rollo  proposed  that 


16S  lucy's  studies. 

Lucy  should  be  a  man  walking  in  the  woods, 
and  that  lie  should  be  a  lion  roaring  at  her,  and 
frightening  her.  The  tables  and  chairs  were  to 
be  the  trees. 

Lucy  agreed  to  this  plan ;  and  so  Rollo  got 
down,  upon  his  hands  and  knees,  under  the  table, 
and  Lucy  began  to  walk  slowly  back  and  forth, 
as  if  she  was  walking  in  the  woods.  She  talked 
to  herself  all  the  time,  as  follows,  — 

"  O  dear  !  what  a  dark  night !  what  a  terrible 
dark  night !  And  I  am  afraid  that  there  are  lions 
in  these  woods." 

Here  Rollo  began  to  roar  a  little. 

"  Hark !  "  said  Lucy.  "  I  believe  I  hear  a 
[ion  roaring.  What  shall  I  do?  He's  a  great 
way  off,  I  suppose  ;  but  what  if  he  should  come 
nearer  !  " 

Here  Rollo  began  to  roar  louder. 

"  Hush  !  children,"  said  Rollo's  mother,  with- 
out, however,  looking  round,  or  even  taking  her 
eyes  off  her  book. 

Here  Rollo's  roar  subsided  into  a  lower  tone. 

"  O  dear  me ! "  said  Lucy,  speaking  more 
softly  ;  "  I  am  afraid  I  shall  lose  my  way,  and  then 
I  shall  get  caught  by  that  terrible  lion." 

Rollo  be^an  to  roar  ao;ain  a  little  louder  than 
before. 


THE    THEORY    OF    INTERRUPTION.  169 

"  O,  how  he  roars  ! "  said  Lucy ;  "  what  shall 
I  do?" 

At  this  moment,  Rollo  scrambled  out  towards 
Lucy  upon  all  fours,  just  as  if  he  was  a  lion, 
springing  out  of  the  thicket  to  seize  her.  Lucy 
van,  Rollo  pursuing  her ;  his  roaring  growing 
louder  and  louder. 

"  Children,"  said  his  mother,  "  that's  too  noisy 
a  play.  I  can't  let  you  play  that  play ;  you 
must  think  of  something  else." 

"Why,  mother,"  said  Rollo,  still,  however, 
keeping  his  quadruped  form  and  position,  "  fa- 
ther said  a  little  noise  was  not  any  interruption." 

"  Did  he  ? "  said  his  mother. 

"  Yes,  mother,"  replied  Rollo,  with  a  very 
confident  tone.  "  He  said  that  it  did  not  do  any 
harm  to  make  a  little  noise,  if  we  did  not  come 
and  do  any  thing  to  attract  your  attention." 

"  Yes,"  said  his  mother,  "  that  is  true  in  regard 
to  grown  persons,  but  there  is  a  very  different 
rule  in  regard  to  babies.  Noise  alone  disturbs 
them.  What  I'm  afraid  is,  not  that  you'll  inter- 
rupt me,  but  that  you'll  wake  Nathan." 

"  O,"  said  Rollo ;  and  just  at  that  moment  the 
door  opened,  and  Royal  came  in. 

Royal  smiled  to  see  Rollo  upon  his  hands  and 
knees,  and  yet  looking  towards  his  mother,  with 
15 


170  lucy's  studies. 

such  a  sober  expression  of  countenance.  He 
asked  them  what  they  were  playing. 

Rollo  got  up,  and  answered,  — 

"  Lion.  But  you  have  come  too  early,  Royal. 
Lucy  was  not  to  go  home  until  half  past  eight." 

"  I  know  it,"  said  Royal,  "  and  I  have  come 
to  play  with  you  half  an  hour." 

"  I'm  glad  of  that,"  said  Rollo ;  "  only  we 
can't  play  now  very  well,  because  we  shall  wake 
the  baby." 

"  Let's  go  into  the  kitchen,  then,"  said  Royal. 
"  Aunt,  may  we  go  into  the  kitchen  ?  " 

"  Yes,  if  Dorothy  is  willing.  You  must  not 
play  unless  Dorothy  is  willing." 

They  all  went  out  into  the  kitchen  to  ask 
Dorothy ;  and  she  said  they  might  make  any 
reasonable  noise ;  but  that,  as  soon  as  the  noise 
became  too  great,  she  should  stop  the  game. 

"  Well,"  said  Royal,  "  you  may.  And  now," 
he  continued,  "  we'll  play  elephant.  I'll  be  the  el- 
ephant. Rollo,  where's  your  little  chain  ?  Go  and 
get  your  little  chain,  to  chain  round  my  fore  leg." 

Rollo  went  and  got  his  chain.  It  was  a  small 
iron  chain,  such  as  is  used  to  support  stove-pipes, 
and  it  had  a  hook  in  one  end.  It  was  a  favorite 
plaything  of  Rollo's,  for  he  could  use  it  in  a  great 
many  ways. 


THE    THEORY    OF    INTERRUPTION.  171 

Rollo  brought  the  chain,  and  then  Royal  got 
down  upon  all  fours,  and  pretended  that  he  was 
an  elephant.  Lucy  was  the  hunter,  and  Rollo 
the  dog.  There  was  considerable  barking,  and 
other  noise,  while  they  were  hunting  the  elephant ; 
but  when,  at  last,  they  got  him  caught  and  chained, 
they  were  more  still. 

Rollo  then  turned  into  a  man,  in  order  that  he 
might  be  the  elephant's  keeper.  He  put  the 
chain  around  Royal's  shoulder,  and  led  him 
about.  Royal  walked  upon  his  hands  and  knees, 
with  a  very  deliberate  motion,  as  much  as  pos- 
sible like  that  of  a  real  elephant.  Sometimes 
Rollo  would  order  his  elephant  to  kneel,  and 
then  Royal  would  fold  his  arms  before  him,  and 
lie  down  close  to  the  floor,  so  that  Rollo  could 
easily  get  upon  his  back.  Rollo  would  mount, 
and  then  call  upon  his  elephant  to  get  up  again ; 
and  so  he  would  take  a  short  ride  about  the  room. 
Lucy  had  one  ride  herself. 

Royal  at  last  began  to  pretend  that  he  was  in 
a  frenzy.  He  said  that  he  had  read  in  books  of 
elephants'  getting  into  a  frenzy,  and  frightening 
their  keepers  terribly.  So  he  scrambled  around 
the  floor,  shaking  his  head  about  in  a  very  ferocious 
manner,  while  Rollo  and  Lucy  ran  off,  trying  to 
get  out  of  his  way,  and  making  the  kitchen  ring 
with  their  peals  of  laughter. 


172  lucy's  studies. 

Dorothy,  who  was  knitting  all  this  time  at  the 
side  of  the  fire,  at  length  interrupted  their  play  by 
saying, — 

"  Come,  come,  children !     I  think  that's  getting . 
to  be  unreasonable  noise." 

"  O  Dorothy,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  don't  think  that's 
much  noise." 

"Yes,"  said  Dorothy,  "you  must  not  play  so 
any  more.  But  if  you'll  come  and  sit  down  here 
by  the  fire,  I'll  tell  you  a  story." 

"  Well,"  said  the  children.  In  fact,  they  were 
as  much  pleased  at  the  idea  of  having  a  story,  as 
they  would  have  been  to  have  gone  on  with  their 
play.     So  they  all  came  and  sat  down  by  the  fire. 

"  Tell  us  a  story  about  a  snow-storm,"  said 
Lucy. 

"  I  have  told  you  pretty  much  all  my  snow- 
storm stories,  already,"  said  Dorothy.  "  Let  me 
think,  —  did  I  ever  tell  you  about  Oliver's  snow- 
shoes." 

"  No,"  said  Lucy;  "  tell  us  now." 

Accordingly,  when  all  were  ready,  Dorothy 
commenced  her  story  as  follows :  — 

"  It  was  a  great  many  years  ago  that  what  I 
am  going  to  tell  you  took  place.  It  was  when 
Oliver  was  about  eight  years  old." 

"  And  how  old  were  you  ?  "  asked  Royal. 


THE  THEORY  OF  INTERRUPTION.    173 

"  I  was  about  twelve,"  replied  Dorothy.  "  Our 
house  was  in  the  woods,  a  great  way  from  the 
school-house  where  we  used  to  go  to  school.  I 
should  think  that  it  was  more  than  two  miles ;  and 
we  had  to  go  by  a  path  through  the  woods.  We 
walked  to  school  in  the  mornings  with  our  dinners 
in  a  basket.  Then  we  staid  in  the  school-room 
at  noon,  eating  our  dinners  by  the  fire." 

"  What  did  you  use  to  have  for  dinner  ? "  asked 
Rollo. 

"  O,  bread  and  cheese,"  said  Dorothy,  "  and 
sometimes  an  apple  turnover,  which  my  mother 
made  for,  us. 

"  Well,  one  day,"  continued  Dorothy,  "  when 
we  had  got  half  way  to  school,  in  the  morning,  it 
'segan  to  snow.  It  snowed  very  fast  all  the  fore- 
noon ;  and  at  noon,  when  school  was  done,  we 
found  that  the  boys  who  went  out  came  in  again 
with  their  clothes  whitened  with  snow,  half  way 
up  to  their  knees.  We  were  afraid  that  we  should 
not  be  able  to  get  home." 

"  And  what  should  you  do  if  you  could  not  get 
home  ? "  said  Lucy.  "  Should  you  stay  in  the 
school-house  all  night  ?  " 

"  O,  I  don't  know,"  said  Dorothy,  "  what  we 
should  have  done.     Perhaps  we  should  have  gone 
to  Mary  Green's  house." 
15  ^ 


174  lucy's  studies. 

"  Mary  Green's  house  ? "  said  Lucy  ;  "  who  was 
Maiy  Green  ? " 

"  Why,  she  was  a  girl  that  went  to  our  school." 

"Never  mind  about  her,"  interrupted  Royal, 
"but  tell  the  story.  I  want  to  hear  about  the 
snow-shoes." 

"  It  stopped  snowing  about  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon,"  said  Dorothy,  "  and  Mary  Green's  fa- 
ther came  for  her  in  a  sleigh ;  and  he  said  that  he 
would  carry  us  as  far  as  he  was  going  our  way ; 
for,  you  see,  we  had  to  go  along  the  main  road  for 
about  half  a  mile,  till  we  came  to  the  place  where 
the  path  through  the  woods  turned  off.  When 
we  came  to  this  place,  we  got  out  of  the  sleigh, 
and  began  to  walk  along  through  the  woods.     At 

O  DO 

last,  we  came  to  a  little  opening  by  the  side  of  a 
mill-stream,  where  there  was  a  little  hut.  The 
hut  was  built  there  to  make  shingles  in.  It  was 
what  they  call  a  shingle  camp." 

"  How  do  they  make  shingles  ?  "  said  Royal. 

"  O,  they  cut  down  a  large  pine-tree,  and  then 
cut  it  up  into  very  short  logs,  and  then  split  the 
logs  into  thin  pieces,  very  wide.  Then  they  take 
these  pieces,  and  shave  them  smooth.  We  looked 
into  the  hut,  but  the  man  was  not  there.  His 
shave  was  there,  and  there  was  a.  great  pile  of 
shavings ;  and  the  horse  was  in  one  corner." 


THE    THEORY    OF    INTERRUPTION.  175 

"  The  horse ! "  said  Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Dorothy,  "  and  we  went  in  and 
sat  down  on  the  shavings  to  rest  ourselves." 

"  How  came  the  man  to  leave  his  horse  there  ?  " 
said  Royal. 

"  Why,  he  was  coming  back  again  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  so  he  left  his  horse  and  his  tools.  There 
was  nobody  about  there  to  steal  them.  It  would 
have  been  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  have  taken 
his  horse  home  every  night." 

"  And  what  did  he  have  to  eat  ? "  said  Royal 
—  "  shavings  ?  " 

Dorothy  laughed,  and  said  there  was  nothing 
else  for  him  to  eat,  and  that,  in  fact,  he  looked  as 
if  he  lived  upon  shavings. 

"  We  staid  here  a  few  minutes  to  rest,"  con- 
tinued Dorothy,  "  and  then  we  concluded  that 
we  would  make  ourselves  some  snow-shoes." 

"  What  are  snow-shoes  ? "  asked  Lucy. 

"  They  are  large,  flat  things  to  put  under  your 
feet  to  keep  your  feet  from  sinking  into  the  snow. 
They  make  them  in  different  ways ;  but  we  were 
going  to  make  ours  of  the  broad  and  thin  pieces 
of  pine  which  had  been  split  out  for  shingles.  So 
we  began  to  look  about  before  the  hut  for  some 
pieces  which  were  of  the  right  size." 

"  But,  Dorothy,"  said  Lucy,  "  I  should  think 


176  lucy's  studies. 

that  they  would  have  been  all  covered  up  in  the 
snow." 

"  They  were  not,"  replied  Dorothy  ;  —  "  but 
stop,  —  let  me  see.  It  appears  to  me  that  the 
sun  was  shining,  and  that  it  was  a  warm,  pleasant 
day  when  we  made  our  snow-shoes.  Yes ;  —  it 
was ;  and  I  have  been  making  a  mistake  all 
this  time.  For  we  didn't  make  our  snow-shoes 
the  day  that  it  snowed ;  it  was  one  day  in  the 
spring,  when  the  snow  was  melting,  so  that  we 
kept  sinking  into  it,  and  could  not  get  along." 

"  Never  mind,"  said  Royal ;  "  no  matter  what 
day  it  was,  —  only  tell  on." 

"  Well,"  said  Dorothy,  "  I  told  Oliver  that  if 
he  had  any  string  in  his  pocket,  so  that  we  could 
fasten  the  snow-shoes  on,  we  would  make  two 
pair,  one  for  himt  and  one  for  ine.  He  said  that 
he  had  got  some  string,  and  he  drew  out  a  long 
piece  from  his  pocket.  So  we  found  pieces  of 
wood,  of  the  right  size,  and  then  we  went  into  the 
hut,  and  Oliver  undertook  to  shave  them  smooth. 
So  he  took  one  of  the  pieces,  and  sat  down  upon 
the  seat  before  the  horse,  and  put  one  end  of  it 
into  the  horse's  mouth,  and  gripped  it  tight,  while 
he  shaved  the  other  end." 

"  O  Dorothy,"  exclaimed  the  children,  "  what 
a  story  1 " 


THE    THEORY    OF    INTERRUPTION.  17? 

**  He  did,"  said  Dorothy,  seriously.  "  He  was 
a  little  fellow,  it  is  true,  but  then  he  was  very 
handy  with  tools."  Dorothy  thought  that  the 
children  were  surprised  that  such  a  little  boy  as 
Oliver  could  use  the  shave ;  but,  in  fact,  what  sur- 
prised them  was,  that  the  piece  of  wood  was  held 
in  the  horse's  mouth. 

"  When  he  had  shaved  one  half  of  the  piece,  he 
turned  it  end  for  end,  and  shaved  the  other  half. 
Then  he  turned  it  over,  and  shaved  the  other  side." 

"  But  how  did  he  get  it  out  of  the  horse's 
mouth  ? "  said  Rollo. 

"  O,  there  was  a  little  foot-piece  down  under- 
neath ;  and  when  he  pressed  that  with  his  foot,  it 
pressed  down  the  jaw,  and  when  he  lifted  off  his 
foot,  the  jaw  came  up  again,  and  let  the  wood  out." 

"  Why,  Dorothy  !  "  said  Lucy ;  "  what  sort  of  a 
horse  do  you  mean  ?  " 

«  Why,  a  shaving  horse,"  said  Dorothy. 

"  A  shaving  horse  ! "  repeated  Rollo  and  Lucy. 

"  Yes,  certainly,"  said  Dorothy.  "  What  sort 
of  a  horse  did  you  think  I  meant  ? " 

"  Why,  a  real  horse,  live  horse,"  said  Rollo. 

Dorothy  laughed  very  heartily  at  this  mistake ; 
and  the  children,  when  they  understood  the  case, 
laughed  heartily  too.  In  the  midst  of  their  merri- 
ment, Royal  looked  up  at  the  clock,  and  said  that 


178  lucy's  studies. 

it  was  time  for  him  and  Lucy  to  go.  "  Only," 
said  he,  "  Dorothy,  I  wish  you'd  finish  the 
story." 

"  Why,  that  is  about  all,"  said  Dorothy ;  "  we 
made  the  snow-shoes,  and  tied  them  on,  and  then 
we  walked  along  over  the  soft  snow  without  sink- 
ing in,  and  so  got  safely  home." 

"  How  did  you  tie  the  shoes  on  ? "  asked 
Royal. 

"  Why,  Oliver  contrived  to  bore  some  holes  in 
the  wood,"  replied  Dorothy,  "  and  then  he  had  a 
piece  of  twine  in  his  pocket,  for  strings.  He  cut 
the  strings  into  proper  lengths,  and  then  put  them 
into  the  holes ;  and  so  we  fastened  the  snow-shoes 
to  our  feet." 

"  I  should  not  think  that  you  could  walk  very 
well  with  snow-shoes,"  said  Lucy. 

"  We  can't  walk  very  well,"  replied  Dorothy ; 
a  but  it  is  better  than  sinking  down  deep  into  the 
snow.  You  must  understand  that  we  don't  lift 
the  whole  snow-shoe  off  from  the  ground,  when 
we  step." 

"  Don't  you  ? "  said  Royal. 

"  No,"  said  Dorothy.  "  It  is  fastened  on  with 
the  strings,  in  such  a  way  that  the  back  part  of 
it  hangs  down,  and  drags  along.  When  we  step, 
we  only  lift  the  front  part  of  it  up,  and  the  back 


THE    THEORY    OF    INTERRUPTION.         179 

part  drags  along  upon  the  snow  to  the  new  place, 
and  then  we  step  down  upon  it  again." 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  pair  of  snow-shoes,"  said 
Royal. 

"  You  must  make  a  pair,"  said  Dorothy. 

"  But  I  havn't  got  any  such  pieces  of  wood," 
said  Royal. 

"  Nor  any  shaving  horse,"  said  Lucy. 

"  O,  perhaps  you  can  find  some  thin  pieces  of 
wood,"  replied  Dorothy.  "  You'd  better  make 
a  pair ;  and  then,  when  there  comes  a  deep  snow, 
this  winter,  you  can  walk  on  them.  You  can 
draw  Lucy  with  your  hand-sled  all  over  the 
fields." 

"  But  the  sled  would  sink  down  into  the  snow," 
said  Royal. 

'•'  Why,  haven't  you  got  a  snow-sled?  "  asked 
Dorothy. 

"  A  snow-sled  ? "  replied  Royal ;  "  no  ;  what 
is  a  snow-sled? " 

"  Why,  it  is  a  sled,"  replied  Dorothy,  "  with 
broad  runners,  so  that  it  will  not  sink  deep  into 
the  snow." 

"  How  broad  ?  "  said  Royal. 

"  O,  about  as  broad  as  my  hand,"  said  Dorothy. 

"  Then  it  must  be  a  very  heavy  sled,"  said 
Royal. 


180  lucy's    STUDIES. 

"No,"  replied  Dorothy,  "it  is  a  very  light 
sled.  The  runners  are  not  solid  ;  they  are  framed, 
and  made  light,  with  only  a  broad,  thin  piece  at 
the  bottom." 

"  I  wish  you  had  a  snow-sled,  Royal,  said 
Lucy,  "  and  a  pair  of  snow-shoes." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Royal,  "  and  I  mean  to  try  to 
make  them;  only  the  sled,  —  I  don't  believe  I 
can  make  a  sled." 

Royal  then  got  his  hat,  and  went  out  into  the 
yard  to  get  the  chaise.  He  told  Lucy  to  go  and 
put  on  her  bonnet,  and  then  come  to  the  front 
door,  when  she  heard  the  sound  of  the  wheels. 

Lucy  accordingly  went  in,  and  put  on  her 
bonnet,  and  bade  her  aunt  and  uncle  good  night. 
She  asked  her  aunt  when  Rollo  might  come  and 
return  her  visit.  She  said  that  she  would  let  him 
come  the  next  week,  if  Royal  could  come  and 
bring  him  home.  And  Lucy  said  that  she  had 
no  doubt  that  her  father  would  let  Royal  bring 
him  home. 

By  this  time,  she  heard  the  sound  of  the  wheels 
driving  up  to  the  door ;  and  so  she  went  out,  and 
got  into  the  chaise,  and  Royal  drove  her  away. 

THE    END. 


J 


